Commonwealth gives Fiji grace period

Thursday, March 05, 2009

Video - Update: 8:29AM FIJI will be suspended from the Commonwealth in September if the interim administration does not show "sufficient" progress towards returning the country to democratic rule.

This was the decision of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group on the Harare Declaration (CMAG) who met in London to discuss Fiji's situation less than 12 hours ago.

In its communique released at about 4am today, CMAG said it would not suspend Fiji as it was "supportive of the joint mediation of the Commonwealth and the United Nations of the Presidents Political Dialogue Forum (PPDF) process in Fiji".

But it specified that should "sufficient progress not take place, consistent with the benchmarks set out in the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Communique", Fiji would be "fully suspended" when the Group next meets in September.

Furthermore, in the absence of satisfactory progress, it would convene an earlier meeting, it added.

The benchmarks stipulated by the Forum in its last communique is that the interim administration nominate an election date by May 1 and hold a general election by the end of December.

CMAG called on all key stakeholders in Fiji to fully co-operate with the Commonwealth and the UN to make the PPDF process meaningful, and "to help achieve an outcome that is legitimate and sustainable and leads to the restoration of civilian constitutional democracy in the country".

It also laid out that the engagement by the Commonwealth and the UN should be "independent, inclusive, time-bound and without prejudice as to its outcome" and it called on the international community to support this mediation process "politically and financially".

Fiji remains suspended from the Commonwealth's Councils, a development that arose soon after the military forcefully took over the Laisenia Qarase-led government in December 2006.

Video courtesy of www.thecommonwealth.org