Fiji rebels take more Indians hostage

LABASA (Fiji), JULY 30. Fijian nationalist supporters of the jailed coup leader, Mr. George Speight, took about 20 ethnic Indian families hostage today and were terrorising people in a rice and sugar farming district, witnesses said.

``We are so terrified I can't explain what is happening,'' one ethnic-Indian farmer told Reuters in a rice and sugar farming district on Fiji's second largest island of Vanua Levu.

Witnesses said up to 15 rebels rampaged through the farming community of Dreketi in Macuata province near Labasa.

Tension escalated in the racially divided country ahead of a military deadline of midnight today for rebels holding up to 40 soldiers to release the men and surrender their weapons. The military has threatened to use force but indicated today it would not act immediately if the deadline was not met. ``The ultimatum is of course midnight tonight and we will reassess the situation tomorrow morning,'' the military spokesman, Major Howard Politini, told the Fiji television today.

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