Chaudhry and 17 other hostages freed in Fiji

Chaudhry and 17 other hostages freed in Fiji
AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE

SUVA, JULY 13: Deposed Fiji prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry and 17 other political hostages were freed on Thursday after 55 days in captivity following which a supporter of coup leader George Speight was appointed as the new president of the island nation.

The hostages, captured on May 19 when coup leader George Speight raided Parliament in the name of indigenous Fijians, left the Parliamentary complex in Red Cross trucks. They were taken to the organisation's headquarters in central Suva to be examined by doctors before being allowed home.

Soon after their release, Fiji's great council of chiefs appointed Ratu Josefa Iloila, a supporter of Speight, as the island nation's new president.

Iloilo announced he will later this week name a government. Speight has said he would be "honoured" to be Prime Minister.

Talking to reporters outside his Suva point home, Chaudhry confirmed he had been beaten up in the first week of his captivity. But he said he had not been badly hurt, as had been widely feared. "I am a tough guy. I can take it," he said with a smile.

Chaudhry, sporting a grey beard and looking considerably older and thinner than before the crisis, said he bore no animosity towards Speight, a failed businessman.

"I have no ill-feeling towards anybody, I am a very forgiving person," he said. He had spent two hours talking to Speight just before his release, he said.

The political crisis sparked by the coup has left Fiji facing economic ruin and international isolation, with many members of its minority Indian population contemplating emigration.

But as relatives and friends gathered around Chaudhry carrying placards reading: "Welcome home Mr Prime Minister. You are our PM," he made it clear he had no intention of quitting his homelamd. "I need a bit of a rest now but I'm an optimist. I think Fiji is a great country," he said. "My priority is that the nation must get back on his feet. There are a lot of people suffering. They are our priority."

Asked if he still considered himself Prime Minister, he replied: "I don't know. It's up to what the people think."

The deal made to secure the release of the hostages includes fulfilling a number of demands made by Speight's rebels, including a new government and a new constitution curtailing the political rights of ethnic Indians.

Martial law spokesman Colonel Filipo Tarakinikini said: "Once executive authority is handed over to the new president the military will revert to its normal role." But he added that the army would help police in "mopping up" operations.

Reactions poured in from all over, with Fiji's Pacific neighbours welcoming the release of the hostages. But they refused to remove the threat of sanctions if Fiji does not return to democracy. "Over the past seven or eight weeks most of us have wondered whether the hostages would emerge unharmed and alive," New Zealand Foreign Minister Phil Goff said. "The fact that they have now is certainly excellent news." Goff, who has denounced Speight as a terrorist and called for Chaudhry's reinstatement, described the release as "one bright spot in an otherwise pretty dismal picture."

New Zealand, Australia, the United States and the European Union have all threatened sanctions if Fiji does not restore democracy.

Both Goff and Australian Prime Minister John Howard said that sanctions could still be imposed.

Military leaders scrapped Fiji's multiracial constitution and pledged to bolster indigenous Fijians rights while curtailing those of ethnic Indians. They also promised amnesty to the hostage takers.

"The Australian government remains profoundly disturbed at the abrogation of the Fijian constitution," Howard said. "This was a criminal act which denied a democratically elected government its constitutional right to govern in the interests of Fiji."

Human rights group Amnesty International Australia slammed the rebels' immunity from prosecution.

"Today, the seeds of the next coup have been sown," the group said. "The consolidation of impunity for those who abuse human rights will not bring indigenous Fijians the benefits they may imagine."

Felix Anthony, the head of Fiji's labour union movement and a friend of Chaudhry, said the deposed prime minister would fight for reinstatement.

"He's not going to be a guy who sits back and says `It's just too bad'. I expect him to stand up and fight and make it plain that he is the legitimate Prime Minister of Fiji," Anthony said.

"I expect him to be talking to the international community and ensure that democracy is restored in Fiji and the constitution is upheld," he said. "The battle is just beginning."