The Fiji imbroglio is sinking into incoherence, with no prospect of a resolution
in sight, and the
only consistency that of the union movement in seeking an economic closedown
and business in
opposing it.
The failure of Mr George Speight to command the full support of his own hostage
takers has been
made apparent with the collapse of the Muanikau Accord he agreed to last Friday.
Mr Robert Keith-Reid, publisher of the Suva-based Islands Business magazine
group, said yesterday:
"Where we are now, God only knows."
Most of the specialist counter-terrorist soldiers who form the kernel of the
hostage-takers,
believed they were engaged in a training exercise when, on May 19, they embarked
on the bus that
took them to Parliament where they seized the Government.
Some demanded, after being briefed en route about their true assignment, that
they be dropped off,
and went to their home villages or back to the barracks.
This need-to-know secrecy was the same approach adopted by then Colonel Sitiveni
Rabuka in the
first coup in 1987. Then, he was himself the front man, and was able to command
the full loyalty of
the army, including soldiers only briefed on the day of the coup.
This time, the chain of command has become so murky that even those engaged
in the coup appear to
have trouble fathoming who to follow.
As a result, a succession of deals struck with the army - most recently, the
Muanikau Accord - have
foundered.
Mr Speight had joined army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Filipo Tarakinikini
in toasting the accord
in a lengthy kava drinking session.
But the leader of the renegade soldiers, retired major Mr Ilisoni Ligairi,
felt the accord did not
provide the guarantees he and his backers sought.
The extra demands include the immediate appointment of a president - probably
Vice President Ratu
Josefa Iloilo, who is suffering from hypertension and increasingly leaning towards
the goals of the
hostage-takers; the inclusion of members of the hostage-taking group in the
new government; and the
retention of weapons - stolen from the military armoury by the soldier participants
in the coup -
by the hostage-takers.
Among those increasingly being perceived in Fiji as aligned with the coup's
aims, are members of
the aristocratic Cakobau (pronounced thackombau) family.
It was their ancestor who in 1874 ceded Fiji to Queen Victoria - even though
he had no real claim
to ruling the rest of the islands beyond the north-east where his ancestral
home of Bau was
located.
The family has for years been seeking to reclaim the title of Vunivalu, widely
viewed as
proclaiming paramountcy among all Fiji chiefs.
Their chief rival has been the extended family of Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, who
stepped aside from
the presidency at the request of the army a month ago, but who cannot be discounted,
even aged 80,
as a powerful player.
Adi Litia Cakobau was removed by the Government of seized Prime Minister Mr
Mahendra Chaudhry as
high commissioner to Malaysia last month.
She is deputy chairman of the Great Council of Chiefs, and recently called
for the removal of the
chairman, Mr Rabuka.
This story was found at: http://afr.com.au/world/20000627/A35600-2000Jun26.html
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