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South Pacific debates Fiji action Pacific leaders set Fiji deadline
(about 8 hours later)
The awkward issue of democracy in Fiji will dominate a meeting of South Pacific leaders in Papua New Guinea. Regional leaders have given Fiji's military rulers until the end of 2009 to hold an election, or face sanctions from the Pacific Islands Forum.
There is disagreement on how to respond to the failure of Fiji's military-led government to hold elections. Meeting in Papua New Guinea, the forum said the situation in Fiji was "not acceptable by international standards".
Both Australia and New Zealand appear to be losing patience with the Fijian military and are pushing for tougher sanctions. But Fiji's self-appointed leader, Frank Bainimarama, said no vote would be held until his reforms were completed, which he claimed could take 10 years.
Smaller island nations, including Tonga and Samoa, have said they will oppose any heavy-handed tactics. Mr Bainimarama, an army chief, seized power in a coup in 2006.
Fiji's military seized power more than two years ago and shows no sign of returning the country to democratic government anytime soon. He now serves as Fiji's prime minister, but has simultaneously also held several other ministerial portfolios.
Leaders from the 16-member Pacific Islands Forum - the region's main diplomatic bloc - will meet in Papua New Guinea to discuss punitive measures they might take. 'Complete contempt'
Elections forgotten His government has missed several deadlines to hold elections - including one agreed at the forum in 2007 - and Fiji's nearest neighbours appear to have run out of patience.
A clearly frustrated New Zealand Prime Minister John Key has said that "draconian" action was on the agenda, although he did not elaborate. "More than two years of rule by an unelected military government, with no clear timetable for the return of constitutional government to the people, is not acceptable by international standards," the forum's statement said.
Expelling Fiji from the forum is one option, although such an unprecedented move would almost certainly be opposed by Tonga, Samoa and Papua New Guinea. If it takes us five years or 10 years to hold elections then so be it Frank Bainimarama
They believe a heavy-handed approach could backfire. If Fiji does not declare an election date by the start of May, and hold the vote by the end of December, the forum said Fiji would be excluded from regional meetings and lose development funding.
Fiji's military has so far not been swayed by international criticism or sanctions since it ousted democratically elected Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase in December 2006. After the forum's meeting, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd told reporters: "The interim [Fijian] government has shown complete contempt for its previous commitments to hold democratic elections by March of this year.
Army chief Commodore Frank Bainimarama had alleged that Mr Qarase's government was corrupt and was pursuing racist policies against the country's ethnic Indian minority. "The ball now is very much in the court of the interim government of Fiji to see what they do."
A promise to hold elections in the early part of this year seems to have been forgotten. 'Five or 10 years'
Commodore Bainimarama will not be attending the Pacific Islands summit. Mr Bainimarama, who did not attend the forum's meeting, has long said he cannot hold elections until Fiji has made changes to its racially based electoral system.
He is staying at home helping to deal with recent floods that killed 11 people and forced thousands of others from their homes. The Fijilive news website reported Mr Bainimarama as saying on Monday: "The Electoral Act will be changed. If it takes us five years or 10 years to hold elections then so be it."
Fiji has deported an Australian publisher, Rex Gardner, after his newspaper, the Fiji Times, was convicted of contempt of court for printing a letter criticising judges who supported the military coup. It was the third such case in a year. Mr Bainimarama justified his coup by accusing the elected Fijian government of corruption and saying it was pursuing racist policies against the country's ethnic Indian minority.
Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said human rights in Fiji were being severely eroded. But since then, his actions have attracted strong criticism from around the world.
The government's treatment of the media has come under particular scrutiny, with three Australian publishers being expelled from the country in the course of a year.
Fiji Times publisher Rex Gardner was the latest journalist to be deported, arriving back in Australia on Tuesday.
His paper had been convicted of contempt of court for printing a letter criticising judges who supported the military coup.