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Fiji's Indigenous Chiefs Reject Coup
Fiji's powerful chiefs Tuesday night rejected coup leader George Speight's claims to power and demanded he set free the nation's prime minister and cabinet who were taken hostage last Friday.
The Great Council of Chiefs also declared its support for President Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara's own plans to "return Fiji to normalcy," former Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka announced.
"They do not approve of what Mr. Speight has done, although they have a lot of sympathy for the views expressed by his supporters," Rabuka said after chairing the meeting of the influential, hereditary chiefs.
The chiefs' decision appears to have destroyed Speight's hopes of winning popular indigenous Fijian support for his armed bid to overthrow Mahendra Chaudhry, Fiji's first ethnic Indian prime minister.
But Speight Tuesday tonight remained defiant, accusing Mara of misleading the chiefs to protect his own power base. In a statement, Speight demanded Mara to reassess his position and stand down as president "before the situation escalates and becomes uncontrollable."
Seized at gunpoint last Friday, Chaudhry and up to 20 hostages Tuesday night remained imprisoned by Speight's men at parliament house in capital Suva.
Chaudhry was reportedly suffering serious injuries after a brutal assault by his masked captors.
The Great Council of Chiefs will on Wednesday examine Mara's proposed solution to the political crisis, which may involve a call on Chaudhry to stand down as leader to make way for an indigenous Fijian prime minister.
"That is a possibility," agreed Rabuka, who led two military coups in 1987 to depose an Indian-dominated government.
He said options included Chaudhry dissolving parliament to hold new elections, or recommending that someone else in his government be appointed prime minister to pacify indigenous Fijians unhappy with the administration.
"Those are the constitutionally sustainable moves that can take place," Rabuka said.
The council of chiefs is a key institution for indigenous Fijians. While its role is theoretically advisory, council agreement is deemed crucial for most major political decisions in Fiji.
The chiefs will also discuss whether Speight should be granted an amnesty, although Rabuka said he personally expected the coup leader to be arrested for treason.
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