Hawke orders ships to stay clear of Fiji

Press, 15 May 1987, Page 3

Hawke orders ships to stay clear of Fiji

Within hours of yesterday’s military coup in Fiji, two Christchurch banks had suspended all dealing in Fijian currency. Both the Bank of New Zealand and the ANZ banking group announced that they were suspending trading in the Fijian dollar until further notice. The decision followed up a statement by the director of the Bankers’ Association, Mr John Belgrave, that individual banks had been left to make their own decision on action over Fijian currency deals after the coup. ' , ' z

By

ROBERT LOWE,

NZPA staff correspondent Sydney The Australian Prime Minister, Mr Hawke, said yesterday that Australian naval vessels in Fiji had been told to stay clear of events surrounding the country’s bloodless coup.

In a statement to Parliament yesterday afternoon, Mr Hawke said two Royal Australian Navy ships happened to be on a routine visit to Fiji.

“But they have been instructed to stay clear of the situation other than to facilitate communications between Australia and the High Commission.”

Mr Hawke said his Government was continuing to monitor events in Fiji and he called on all elements of Fiji’s community to work for a speedy return to parliamentary democracy.

He said the Government and the Australian people deplored the mili-

tary take-over. “Since its independence in 1970, Fiji has achieved a proud tradition of Parliamentary democracy,” he said. “This form of government has been a major factor in harmonising the interests of the different racial groups who make up the Fiji community. “Instability in the South Pacific is a direct concern to Australia as I have several times made clear in recent weeks in condemning the intrusion into the region of Libyan destablising activities which have played such havoc in other parts of the world. "These events are particularly deplorable as the first military coup against an elected Government in the South Pacific.” Earlier, Mr Hawke told reporters that he had made it clear to Australian High Commission officials that they were not to attend a summoning of the diplomatic heads of mission in Suva.