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Clark Rules out N. Zealand Military Role in Fiji
New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark has ruled out the country's military intervention in Fiji, saying it could inflame the crisis and put the hostages' lives at risk.
The Dominion Monday quoted the prime minister as saying: "We have a hostage drama where any ill-advised action could trigger off disastrous consequences for the people we want to help." "If there are negotiation skills in New Zealand that could be used, that would be the most useful right now," she was quoted as saying by the Wellington-based newspaper.
On Sunday, hundreds of Fiji Indians marched in Auckland, the biggest city in New Zealand, calling for New Zealand to take action to free Fiji's Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry.
Prime Minister Helen Clark said her country can provide police negotiators to help with the freeing of hostages if asked by Fiji. She said the best thing New Zealand can do is hang in solidly behind Fiji's President Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, the army and the police, and "back every effort they make to bring it to an end through negotiation".
Clark said New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Phil Goff has been in close liaison with the Australian and British governments and other Pacific leaders, "so we're working very hard in coordinating a response".
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