FIJI: 24 HOURS LATER
Julian Fox
SUVA: 2nd March -- Later? Than what? The Australian media would have answered that question, not so, perhaps, the Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Indonesian, Thai..... Just 24 hours ago, a bench of five judges who had flown into Suva to offer legal judgement on Prasad versus the State delivered their verdict: the 1997 constitution has not been abrogated and is the law of the land; the parliament has not been dismissed, only prorogued and should have resumed by 29th November 2000; the President did not resign on 29th May at the time he was shipped out of Suva by the army, but he did subsequently resign in December - the man holding the role presently is 'acting' and only until 15th March 2001 according to the 1997 constitution.
But what is it like on the ground here? Calm in respect to civilian and social orderliness for the moment. At a political level, there is turmoil: all groups are groping for words to express how they feel - the interim government which is not a legal government, but there and occupying the offices of government, will speak on Tuesday next week - its most obvious choice is to resign. The army which is still on the streets will stay on the streets until directed to return to barracks by the acting president. The president, who is sickly, will need to be endorsed or a new appointment made by the Great Council of Chiefs, that other supreme body in Fijian affairs. And the deposed Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudry came on television tonight to reclaim his place and position - of all those involved he is the one who has spoken most clearly of his stance. He will not be involved in a government of national unity.
We do not expect social unrest in this immediate period of transition from the certainty of what we know at the moment to the uncertainty of where we have to go. For the rest it is 'wait and see'. Suva can be easily held tight by security forces. Not so the jungles of Naitasiri and Tailevu, the origins of the Taukei movement that began it all.
But we do have a distraction - cyclone Paula! Waves came in this morning at 12 metres height along the Coral Coast between Suva and Nadi. The two cities were largely unaffected. Villages inbetween however, found themselves somewhere other than where they were before the waves struck! No deaths fortunately, but widespread destruction.
