Speight terms for freeing hostages

By P. S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE, JUNE 2. Fiji's `civil coup' leader, Mr. George Speight, today made a conditional offer to free the Prime Minister, Mr. Mahendra Chaudhry, and others being held captive in the Parliament building in Suva since May 19.

While the offer was in tune with the hopes raised by the military Government on Thursday, Mr. Speight indicated that release of the hostages might hinge on his becoming the Prime Minister under a settlement to be fashioned by the country's Great Council of Chiefs next Monday.

Though Mr. Speight said in Suva today that he would ``let the chiefs decide'' whether or not he should be made the Prime Minister, he was categorical about his personal ambitions for the post of chief executive. In his calculus, there should be `no' role for the military, which seized power from the President a few days ago and proclaimed martial law, in any formula to be worked out by the chiefs. Mr. Speight and the military ruler, Commodore J.V. (Frank) Bainimarama, had agreed on Thursday to ask the country's traditional chiefs to settle the dispute about who should rule the country following the ``coup within a coup.''

Mr. Speight said Cmdr. Bainimarama and he would ``address the situation of those who are detained'' - an indirect offer to set the hostages free.

Jaswant on Fiji

The visiting External Affairs Minister, Mr. Jaswant Singh, said in Singapore today that ``the Commonwealth is seized of the matter'' and that New Delhi was ``in consultation with other Commonwealth countries, including Australia and New Zealand.''

He cited the Commonwealth's ``principle'' that ``a forceful unseating of a democratically-elected Government is not to be encouraged.'' He said he had sent officials to Fiji to ``see the state in which our (Indian) mission is there''.

Indian diplomats, Mr. S.T. Devare and Mr. C.P. Ravindranathan began assessing the situation in Suva in consultation with India's resident High Commissioner, Prof. Ishwar Singh Chauhan. Mr. Devare described his mission as ``a fact-finding'' exercise.

Asserting that there was no move now to close the Embassy, Mr. Devare said the ``morale'' of the diplomats and staff there ``is very high.''

U.S. considering sanctions

Even as the overall security situation in Fiji remained tense today, with reports of stone- pelting at the Parliament building and the ransacking of the house of Mr. Chaudhry's son, a U.S. official said it was ``uncertain when democracy will return to Fiji.'' He said the U.S. was ``considering a range of steps (sanctions) in consultation with other nations that could have serious impact on Fiji's international contact and on outside assistance.''

Gunshots heard

AFP reports:

Gunshots were heard inside Parliament and a man, said to be a Speight supporter, was rushed away from the building in an ambulance, soldiers said.

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