KEY POINTS:
South Pacific governments have decided to tell Fiji's military rulers they must hold free and fair elections by August next year.
Foreign Minister Winston Peters said after a meeting of South Pacific Forum representatives in Vanuatu today there was no tolerance of the coup last December that ousted Fiji's civilian government.
"I think the Fijian interim government knows that the international community means business, and so does the forum," he told NZPA.
"The decision taken today means, in effect, that they will be requested to have elections by August 2008."
Ministers representing 16 Forum member states considered a report prepared by an Eminent Persons Group of four respected regional figures which recommended Fiji return to democratic rule within 18 to 24 months.
Mr Peters said key points agreed at the meeting were the restoration of respect for an independent judiciary in Fiji, restoration of the rule of law and, most particularly, the holding of free and fair elections.
He said a working group was being set up which would be the Forum's contact point with the Fijian interim government. It would report back in three months.
Fiji is under international sanctions, and Mr Peters said they were beginning to bite.
"I think, as people see the report we are putting out today, how important it is not just for Fiji but for the Pacific itself," he said.
Mr Peters said there was unanimous agreement at today's meeting.
"I think it will be seen as a landmark in the sense that there was no demur, there was no disagreement about the need for the restoration of free and fair elections in Fiji," he said.
"That was significantly important... there is simply not the tolerance of coups or the replacement of governments undemocratically."
Fiji's military chief and self-appointed interim prime minister, Commodore Voreqe (Frank) Bainimarama, has said elections will not be held until 2010.
Ousted prime minister Laisenia Qarase, banished to a remote island, has vowed to contest those elections.
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer told reporters he believed Fiji's interim government would be flexible on the timetable for elections.
"The Fijians originally were saying it was going to happen in three years, now they are saying it could be a bit quicker than that," he said.
"It is going to take time, but what we need to do is to encourage the restoration of democracy in Fiji and for it to be done as quickly as possible."
- NZPA, AAP
