19 Mar 2007

Fiji military wants to read whole Forum report before commenting on Vanuatu meeting

5:40 am on 19 March 2007

The military in Fiji says it will not comment on the outcome of the Forum Foreign Affairs ministers meeting in Vanuatu last Friday until it has read the full report from the meeting.

The Forum has given Fiji's interim government three months to consider a plan for elections in the country within two years.

The foreign ministers meeting endorsed a report by an Eminent Persons Group that called for the government, installed after last year's coup to step down, and the military to stop interfering with the judiciary.

The military spokesman, Major Neumi Leweni, said they needed to study the report in totality before making any comments.

The Fiji Council of Churches general secretary, the Reverend Isireli Kacimaiwai, told the Fiji Times that the views of their members would need to be sought before any comment was made.