FIJI: SITUATION UPDATE

(14 Jul 2000) English/Nat
XFA
Fiji's tribal chiefs picked a rebel supporter as vice president on Friday, paving the way for the man who launched a two-month national crisis to fill the new Cabinet in the shattered government.
The Great Council of Chiefs installed Ratu Jope Seniloli as vice president, the day after appointing Ratu Josefa Iloilo president.
Both men were nominated by coup leader George Speight.
The appointments followed a two month parliamentary hostage crisis that has inflamed ethnic tensions in Fiji and ravaged the South Pacific nation's crucial tourist industry.
The final 18 hostages were released on Thursday following a deal on Sunday.
The military agreed to scrap the country's multiracial constitution, depose Mahendra Chaudhry, Fiji's first prime minister of ethnic Indian descent, and grant Speight and his men amnesty.
Indo-Fijians, whose ancestors were brought to the islands by British colonialists over a century ago to work in the rich sugar cane fields, make up 44 percent of Fiji's 812-thousand people.
Many indigenous Fijians resent the Indo-Fijians' economic and political power.
But Sathin Chaudhry, Mahendra Chaudhry's son, said on Friday that they were properly protected under the constitution.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"The interest of all communities were adequately catered for and taken into account and represented in the composition of the cabinet and if there were any general grievances, they could have been taken to the appropriate authorities like the judicial system."
SUPER CAPTION: Sathin Chaudhry, son of Mahendra Chaudhry , deposed Prime Minister of Fiji
Speight said he was acting on behalf of indigenous Fijians when he and an armed gang raided parliament on May 19, took dozens of lawmakers hostage and demanded the country's large ethnic Indian minority be stripped of political power.
At a news conference on Friday, he celebrated his success.
Speight held up the Fiji Government Gazette - the document providing immunity from prosecution for himself and the other hostage-takers.
On the inside of this document was the decree transferring executive power to an interim government.
That became effective at 5am Fijian time.
Speight said it spelled the end of the country's military government.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"The military government is finished and executive authority has been transferred to Ratu Josefa Iloilo. On the back of this is the oath that he will swear some time over the next few days so we're getting closer to the final conclusion. As you know the hostages have been released and after this I'm going to take you into the building just up the road here and have you photograph all the ammunitions and guns and machine guns and ouzies that will be handed back to the chiefs this afternoon in a special ceremony that we'll be inviting you to capture."
SUPER CAPTION: George Speight, coup leader
As promised, the weapons to be handed over were put on show for the press.
And there were congratulations all round following the successful release of the final 18 hostages, which included Mahendra Chaudhry.
The Great Council of Chiefs installed Ratu Jope Seniloli as vice president, the day after appointing Ratu Josefa Iloilo president.
The chiefs now want Iloilo to choose Fiji's next government without outside influence, said council chairman Sitiveni Rabuka.
An announcement is expected within days.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
SUPER CAPTION: Sitiveni Rabuka, Council Chairman
In the wake of the denouement, Fiji is a vastly changed country.
The elected government is gone, ethnic tensions remain inflamed, and the crucial tourist industry is ravaged.
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