Fiji remains suspended from Commonwealth councils

The Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group has decided to keep Fiji suspended from councils of the organisation.

Radio New Zealand reports that a Commonwealth Foreign Ministers meeting in London said they had grave concern that Fiji was not going to honour its commitment to hold free and fair elections within a year.

The Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma explained the reasons why Ministers were unhappy with Fiji's progress saying that the group continued to be concerned at reports which indicate the independence of the judiciary, and freedom of the media, were being seriously compromised , including the deportation of media personnel in contravention of court orders and the continued militarization of key Fiji institutes. The group also expressed concern at reports of continued human rights abuses.

However, in a statement this afternoon Interim Prime Minister Commodore Frank Bainimarama said the statement from the Commonwealth Action group fails to recognize the on the ground realities in Fiji and the progress the interim government has already been making for dialogue, consensus building and for taking the country forward.

Commodore Bainimarama said Fiji is committed to the regional processes, including the Fiji/Forum Working group which has been having regular meetings on the roadmap to parliamentary democracy.

However, the Interim Prime Minister has stressed to the international community to take time to better understand the difficulties which Fiji faces in convening elections under the current electoral provisions.

Bainimarama said these provisions are not only warped and unfair, they have been to some extent responsible for the ongoing disenchantment and political instability which Fiji has faced since gaining independence in 1970.

He said holdings elections under current systems will not help us in bringing about genuine and sustainable democracy and that is why there is a strong push to get the required electoral reforms implemented after consultations with all relevant stakeholders and within the constitution and the laws of the land.

In relation to concerns from the Commonwealth on the independence of the Judiciary and freedom of the media, Commodore Bainimarama said it is most unfortunate the we are being judged thousands of miles away based on reports written by usual critics of the interim government without objectively and constructively providing the facts as they relate to the situation on the ground.

The Interim PM said it was unfortunate that Fiji was not invited to the Commonwealth Ministerial meeting and thus had no opportunity to contribute their views on the way forward towards elections in Fiji as pledged by the interim government. He stressed that Fiji is not deviating in any way from its commitments to the international community and is committed to returning Fiji to parliamentary democracy as soon as possible in 2009.