Bavadra supporters to march?

Press, 20 July 1987, Page 7

Bavadra supporters to march?

By

JAMES SHRIMPTON

: NZPA-AAP Suva A peace-threatening march planned in Suva today by 10,000 supporters of the extremist Fijian Taukei movement was called off on Friday on the advice of security forces. A spokesman for the ousted Bavadra .coalition Government announced last evening that it had applied for permission to hold a similar march by 10,000 of its supporters in . Suva tomorrow. Like the Taukei, the coalition planned to advise a meeting of the Great Council of Chiefs in

Suva of its attitude towards proposed changes in the Constitution, a coalition spokesman said. Observers said security forces would probably attempt to persuade the coalition to withdraw its application, as they had with the Taukei leaders. The cancellation of the Taukei march further eased tension in Fiji after a week of events which have steadied its shaky economy. Senior Army and police officers, in a meeting at police headquarters, persuaded Taukei leaders that a march through the

streets of Suva could lead to trouble which might undo the positive developments of the last few days. They cited the revivals in the tourist industry, with thousands of Australians taking advantage of discounted holidays, and the sugar industry, in which harvesting of the 1987 crop has finally begun, two months late. As well, Australian and New Zealand trade unions on Thursday lifted twomonth bans on trade with Fiji, as from today. Under the Taukei proposals, Fiji would be declared a republic headed by a President with

Parliament comprising an upper House drawn from the Great Council of Chiefs and a lower House made up of 60 members i elected from 20 Fijian , provinces. The Fijian language would be the national, I official and principal lani guage. The courts would s recognise Taukei customary law as taking precedence over English comI mon law. ; No more native land would be released for use i by non-Fijians, and every commercial venture must have at least 40 per cent Fijian ownership. I All land and marine i minerals in Fiji would

belong to the Taukei (a word meaning simply indigenous Fijians). A British expert on constitutional law arrived in Fiji on Friday to help solve the constitutional crisis. Professor Keith Patchett, a retired professor of law at the University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology, was assigned to Suva by the Commonwealth Secretariat in London, which is financing his visit. Continental Airlines on Friday dealt a blow to the recovery of Fiji’s tourist industry with the announcement that it was abandoning its flights into Fiji.