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NIUE: Leaders of the 16-nation Pacific Islands Forum said Wednesday they may take the unprecedented step of suspending Fiji's military regime if it fails to get promised elections back on track.
The leaders of Australia, New Zealand and 13 Pacific Island countries announced at a leaders' retreat in the tiny island nation of Niue they may hold a special summit before the year's end to consider suspension.
Forum chairman, Niue's premier Toke Talagi, told reporters that leaders had decided that a group of forum foreign ministers will monitor the situation in Fiji and would report before the end of the year.
Fiji's self-appointed interim Prime Minister, Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama, who grabbed control of the nation of 900,000 in a December 2006 coup, has broken a promise made to Pacific leaders last year to hold elections by March 2009.
Fiji's self-appointed interim prime minister further angered the forum after announcing earlier this week he was boycotting the summit.
The leaders said in a communique Wednesday that Bainimarama's decision not to come to the summit to explain his broken promise was "unacceptable."
"The leaders will be prepared to consider the suspension of the Fiji interim government from the councils of the forum," New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark told reporters.
"It's a very strong message and now the ball is in (Bainimarama's) court as to how he responds.
"This is about Pacific Island Forum leaders assuming leadership of this issue."
No country has previously been suspended from the forum, including Fiji, which has suffered four coups in two decades.
Australian officials, who did not want to be named, said Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was pleased with the forum's decision.
Clark said suspension from the forum would threaten Fiji's foreign aid, including hundreds of millions of dollars from the European Union.
"The commodore wants to consider very carefully before he walks that road," she said.
The leaders' communique on Fiji called on Bainimarama to honour his promise to hold elections by March next year and said the forum was willing to help with poll preparations.
Officials said the forum did not necessarily intend to force Fiji to stick to the March 2009 timetable, but Bainimarama would have to commit to a timetable for restoring democracy in the short term.
"The thing is, he's not only ruled out March 2009, he actually has no timetable for elections at any time, so there's just not a willingness on his part up until now to look at any timetable," Clark said.
Any suspension of Fiji would be awkward for the forum, whose secretariat is based in the Fijian capital Suva, along with the regional offices of a number of international organisations.
Bainimarama has threatened to resign from the forum if it continues to oppose his plans to reform the electoral system before holding elections.
The forum acknowledged that issues such as electoral reform should be addressed but said this should happen after elections, which Bainimarama promised would be held under the current constitution and electoral system.
Leaders were due to wrap up their summit later Wednesday, with discussions on issues including climate change and soaring food and fuel prices.
- AFP/yb
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