8 Dec 2006

Deposed Fiji minister says Qarase will never return

5:41 am on 8 December 2006

A cabinet minister in Fiji's deposed government says Laisenia Qarase will never return to power.

Poseci Bune of the Fiji Labour Party has told Fiji TV Mr Qarase should accept the military's intervention, step back and allow the country to move forward.

Mr Bune says it's not the first time that he himself has been deposed as they same happened to him in May 2000 when he was held hostage for 56 days.

Mr Bune says people should accept what has happened, adding that "the quicker we cooperate the quicker we move out of this state of confusion."

He says it's time church and traditional leaders rally behind the army and work towards restoring democracy.

Mr Bune says the Great Council of Chiefs is doing a great disservice by not convening a meeting to discuss the issue.

He says Laisenia Qarase should remember May 2000 when Mahendra Chaudhry was deposed and never returned to power.

Mr Bune says Fiji has had three previous coups and no deposed leader has ever come back to power because, as he puts it, "whoever has the gun has the power."