Commonwealth issues ultimatum

The Commonwealth has issued an ultimatum to the Fiji government to commit to democratic elections by next year or face full suspension from all parts of the Commonwealth.

After close to 7 hours of deliberation, the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group who met in London last night, issued the communique where the Ministers gave a month's deadline until September 1st for Fiji to commit to elections in October 2010 or face full suspension.

In a statement, the CMAG authorized the Chair and Secretary General to consult on engagements with Fiji and should a positive response be received, they are to furnish a report to the next CMAG meeting in New York on the 26th of September of this year.

CMAG has also called for the Government to reactivate the President's Dialogue Forum process, facilitated by the Commonwealth and the United Nations.

In their statement, they also added that the dialogue must be independent, inclusive, time bound and without any predetermined outcome and should also lead to credible elections in October 2010.

A full suspension from the Commonwealth would see Fiji experience more sanctions from the 53 member-countries of the Commonwealth and even see Fiji athletes not being able to compete in the Commonwealth Games next year in India.

The Fiji Government is expected to comment later today on the issue.