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Posted at 11:11 a.m., Thursday, April 12, 2007

Fiji's military regime cuts ties with chiefs' council

By PITA LIGAIULA
Associated Press

SUVA, Fiji — Fiji's military regime suspended all further meetings of the South Pacific nation's powerful council of indigenous chiefs today, calling the panel a security threat after it rejected the government's candidate for vice president.

The chiefs hold powerful sway among Fiji's majority indigenous population, and the government's move could inflame opposition to its rule.

Commodore Frank Bainimarama, the armed forces commander who seized power in a Dec. 5 bloodless coup, announced the council's suspension 24 hours after it rejected the nomination of former military commander Ratu Epeli Nailatikau as Fiji's vice president.

Nailatikau was rejected by two of the nation's three chiefly confederations, a move seen as a direct snub to President Ratu Josefa Iloilo, who nominated him, and an attack on the influence of the military-led government.

"It is very clear ... they do not recognize the interim government" and "now constitute a security threat to our efforts to move the country forward," Bainimarama said in a national radio broadcast announcing the suspension of the influential chiefs' council.

Bainimarama said the council, whose membership is hereditary but whose meetings are called by the government, had become a refuge for those who opposed his regime.

Meetings were suspended until a full investigation of its membership could be held by the government, he said.

There was no immediate comment from the council or its chairman, Ratu Ovini Bokini.

Nailatikau was nominated to fill the vice president's role after Ratu Jone Madraiwiwi, a former judge and strong opponent of the military government, resigned shortly after the Dec. 5 coup — Fiji's fourth in 20 years.