2 Jul 2005

Fiji military commander says Reconciliation Bill is a form of ethnic cleansing

9:06 am on 2 July 2005

Fiji's military commander says the Qarase government's Reconciliation and Unity Bill is a form of ethnic cleansing.

The Fiji Sun reports that in his strongest statement yet, Commodore Frank Bainimarama has warned that the Bill is designed to move the Indian population out of Fiji.

Commodore Bainimarama says "there nothing about reconciliation in the Bill - it is about ethnic cleansing."

He says the people who designed the Bill have their own agendas.

Commodore Bainimarama says the military is there to serve every person in the country and it will not allow Indians to be victimised and suffer again as they did during the coups.