Fiji silent on Commonwealth ultimatum

THE Fiji government says it will not react to the latest suspension threat from the Commonwealth until directly informed of the ultimatum.
The Commonwealth has renewed its warning that Fiji will be suspended from the grouping in September if it fails to commit to holding new elections by next year following a 2006 coup.
Fiji Attorney General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum was quoted by the Fiji Village website on Saturday as saying the government had not received official word on the suspension threat and would only comment when there had been talks with the Commonwealth.
In a statement agreed after seven hours of talks in London on Friday, the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) – whose members are the United Kingdom, Ghana, Malaysia, Namibia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, St Lucia, Sri Lanka and Uganda – called for Fiji to inform it in writing by September 1 that it would hold elections by October 2010.
“In the absence of such confirmation, Fiji will be fully suspended on that date,” they said.
Informed sources said the ministerial group was split down the middle, with countries including New Zealand in favour of suspension, but others including Malaysia, which chairs the CMAG, against.
Since seizing power in a bloodless coup in December 2006, Fiji’s self-appointed prime minister, Voreqe Bainimarama, has resisted all international pressure to restore democracy.
When he said earlier this year there would be no democratic elections until 2014 it led to Fiji’s suspension from the 16-nation Pacific Islands Forum for refusing to return to democracy “in an acceptable time-frame.”