Ratu Mara seeks to see Queen

Press, 9 October 1987, Page 4

Ratu Mara seeks to see Queen

From KAREN MANGNALL, in Suva The former Fiji Prime Minister, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, is seeking an audience with the Queen to try to find a way to legitimise the republic of Fiji and still retain links with the Crown. Ratu Mara’s trip to London is apparently the result of a collaboration between himself, the Gov-ernor-General, Sir Penaia Ganilau, and the head of Fiji’s Military Government, Colonel Sitlveni Rabuka. Government House sources said yesterday the three had decided that as a republic was the only means of gaining constitutional changes for Fijians, some way had to be found to make this transition acceptable to international opinion. Ratu Mara is apparetly gong to seek advice on whether Ratu Ganilau can gently relinquish the office of Governor-Gen-eral while still keeping Fiji within the Commonwealth as a republic. This would enable Ratu Ganilau to accept the first presidency of the republic of Fiji.

The conflict between Ratu Ganilau’s duties as Governor-General and his standing as one of Fiji’s paramount chiefs has been at the core of the constitutional impasse since the May 14 military coup. Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara hopes to gain an audience with the Queen in his capcity as a Privy Councillor. Ratu Mara will meet the Queen’s principal private secretary, Sir William Heseltine, after he arrives in London this evening. Ratu Mara would not get an audience with the Queen because he would arrive only a few hours before the Queen was due to leave for Vancouver and the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting, a Buckingham Palace spokesman said. The Palace has been firm in its support for Ratu Ganilau’s executive authority since the first coup d’etat in Fiji on May 14. A Palace statement last week said the Queen looked on the leaders of the second coup on September 25 as disloyal.