The West was declared a fourth confederacy in a meeting of chiefs from Nadroga/Navosa,
Serua, Namosi, Ba and Ra in Nadi today.
The declaration will be made known to the Great Council of Chiefs and if rejected,
moves will be made to secede from the rest of Fiji.
The meeting resolved that the military hand over power to civilians and Vice
President Ratu Josefa Iloilo be made President of Fiji.
Ratu Josefa, the Tui Vuda, when he becomes president, would select his own
interim civilian government.
The chiefs also want the country to be declared a Christian state - ruling
out the possibility of a return to democracy if this motion is accepted.
Democracy, say the chiefs, is not the local way of life.
Consensus, based on the Christian way of life, will be governing element in
the new administration.
The meeting will have a final vote on the issues discussed by a show of hands
sometimes this evening.
A police officer who went in the Parliamentary Complex to investigate last
week's car hijacking was bashed up by supporters of coup leader George Speight.
The officer, who was severely beaten, was first treated in the Parliament Infirmary
and then left after a soldier intervened for his release.
Police officers have been a target for criminal elements among Speight's supporters.
One has died after being shot by a mob from the Parliamentary Complex.
Corporal Filipo Seavula was buried at his village in Ba yesterday.
The government's Information Technology Centre has been sabotaged, with the
interdepartmental email, the budgetary systems of the Ministry of Finance and
the income tax computer network being hit.
The Inland Revenue Department network is back online after 48 hours of work
by technicians but the other areas are still crippled.
Government technicians have been working on the sabotaged system since Monday.
Fiji police have asked the assistance of Australian Federal Police in tracking
down the person believed responsible for the sabotage as he holds information
essential for accessing the system.
Reports say the man walked into the ITC building, gained access to the hub
and changed the system so that information became inaccessible.
This text may have been edited to protect the writer.
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last revision June 9, 2000