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Pacific leaders demand Fiji call 2009 elections
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Pacific leaders demand Fiji call 2009 elections
AFP - Wednesday, January 28
PORT MORESBY (AFP) - - Pacific leaders Tuesday demanded Fiji hold elections by the end of the year, threatening to suspend the military regime from their regional grouping if a poll date is not named by May.
If the military regime fails to carry out the forum's demand, it will be suspended from forum meetings and barred from regional cooperation initiatives and new financial and technical assistance, leaders said in a statement.
"The forum sent a strong message to Fiji today that it expects to see that country put on a pathway to democratic elections and it expects to see that completed by the end of 2009," New Zealand Prime Minister John Key said.
The 16-member Pacific Islands Forum presented a united front after a special summit to prod Fiji's military ruler Voreqe Bainimarama towards elections, but statements by some of the island countries suggested they opposed the hard line taken by New Zealand and Australia.
The summit in the Papua New Guinea capital was called after Bainimarama reneged on a promise to hold elections by March this year, more than two years after he toppled Fiji's elected government in a December 2006 coup.
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said he was "deeply sceptical" that Fiji would respond to the forum's demands.
"The interim government has shown complete contempt for its previous commitments," he said.
Bainimarama said in Suva on Monday his regime was determined to push through electoral reforms before holding elections, even if it took five or ten years.
Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Michael Somare had told the summit he was opposed to taking a punitive stance towards Fiji.
"The challenge for us, I believe, is to resist the temptation of giving in to our frustrations over broken promises and the seeming lack of progress towards restoring democracy in Fiji," he said, according to speech notes.
But he said "compassion and patience" towards Fiji should not be seen as a sign of weakness.
"I would like to think that the forum leadership is not about imposing our will, but about listening and extending a helping hand in ways that bring about long-term solutions."
Echoing Bainimarama's own justification for the coup, Somare said the forum should help find a long-term solution to the "coup culture" which has seen Fiji suffer four coups in two decades.
"If there are any lessons to be learnt from the previous coups, hurriedly prepared elections and token changes to rules do not usher in real democracy," he said.
Television New Zealand reported Kiribati President Anote Tong saying some countries would rather leave the forum than take drastic action against Fiji.
"The only way in and out of Kiribati is Fiji, if we take action it'll be disastrous," Tong said.
Forum chairman Toke Talagi said the forum would help small isolated countries such as Kiribati and Tuvalu if they suffered as a result of Fiji being isolated.
Bainimarama refused to go to the summit, saying he was needed at home to oversee flood relief work.
Somare threw the summit into confusion Friday when he announced it would be postponed until February 10 to allow Bainimarama to attend.
But on Saturday the meeting was on again after Talagi -- the premier of Niue -- overruled Somare's decision and insisted the meeting go ahead.
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