Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

NZ monitoring Fiji constitution controversy

Updated at 5:17 pm on 31 December 2012

The New Zealand Government says it is monitoring developments in Fiji closely amid the controversy surrounding Fiji's draft constitution.

The regime in Suva has declined to comment about the way the police seized all copies of the draft document.

Constitution Commission chairperson, Yash Ghai, who was appointed by the interim government, was reportedly abused by the police as he tried to intervene at the printing shop the week before last.

A senior military officer, Lieutenant Colonel Mosese Tikoitoga, told the Fiji Times they stopped the printing of the 600 copies because the documents' distribution by the Constitution Commission is illegal.

However, a commission member, Peni Moore, has confirmed that the draft document will be released on its website within the next few days, after earlier versions were distributed via the internet.

Radio New Zealand International reports the draft was commissioned by the interim government and produced over several months with funds from donors, such as New Zealand.

The draft is to go to a Constituent Assembly, which the regime is yet to appoint, before a tribunal vets the document to ensure the regime's non-negotiable elements are included.

The new constitution is to replace the 1997 document, which the regime abrogated nearly four years ago when the appeal court ruled that the post-coup interim government was illegal.

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