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New Zealand Urges Fiji to Set Up Govt of Reconciliation
New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Phil Goff has urged Fiji to set up a government of reconciliation after the Fiji High Court recently ruled the interim government is unconstitutional, according to Wellington-based Evening Post newspaper.
Fiji's High Court judge Anthony Gates said in his ruling that the post-coup government headed by Laisenia Qarase is unconstitutional and called on deposed President Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara to recall parliament and reinstate Mahendra Chaudhry.
Goff welcomes the ruling and was quoted as saying: "What it should be seen as by parties in Fiji is not a threat but an opportunity to restore democracy."
He noted that recent events have shown that the alternative to constitutional government is the use of guns, coups and mutinies.
Fiji's interim government should take the ruling as "a signal to speed up a return to democracy," New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark was quoted as saying from Brunei, where she is attending an Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.
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