Attempted civillian coup leader, George Speight still maintains that the Great
Council of Chiefs will back him at the Boselevu Vakaturaga meeting
tomorrow. Speight claims his document containing the reasons for staging the
attempted coup will be presented tomorow and the chiefs will support those reasons.
Speight also attacked Chairman of the Boselevu Vakaturaga, Sitiveni Rabuka and
President Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara for allegedly turning the chiefs away from
Speight.
However in a press conference earlier tonight, Rabuka announced that the Great
Council of Chiefs fully support the President, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara's efforts
to return Fiji to normalcy. Rabuka says the chiefs are now asking Speight to
release all the hostages at the parliament building. Rabuka says the chiefs
remain firm that there's a definite move on the President's part to make sure
the machinery of the government continues. Rabuka says the Great Council of
Chiefs and the President won't give any proposals and deal with compromises
as Speight has done something wrong and has no position at all in the running
of the legitimate government. He confirms Speight will be in prison when he
is arrested.
Rabuka says in the meeting tomorrow the chiefs will talk about telling Speight
and his men to lay down their guns and surrender.
Meanwhile the Commonwealth Secretary General and Former New Zealand Foreign
Minister, Don McKinnon, will arrive in Fiji in an hour. He will be in the company
of a United Nations representative. Both men are expected to be briefed on the
current crisis by local representatives of the current government of Ratu Mara
operating under a State of Emergency.
We will provide you updates throughout the night as they come to hand so stay tuned.
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