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BRUSSELS - The European Union has agreed to resume vital aid and support to Fiji's sugar industry as long as the country's military coup leader Frank Bainimarama showed he was ready to hold elections by February 2009.
The EU had warned that hundreds of millions of dollars of aid would be delayed or put at risk following Bainimarama's bloodless coup on December 5, 2006, when he seized power and toppled elected prime minister Laisenia Qarase.
But, concluding months of consultations with Fijian officials, the 27-member bloc said it would continue aid and cooperation agreements under certain conditions.
"The EU was pleased that the interim government confirmed a number of key commitments regarding human rights and fundamental freedoms, respect for democratic principles and the rule of law," it said in a statement.
"Fiji also agreed to close cooperation regarding the monitoring and verification of the commitments," it added.
Commitments including the staging of free and fair parliamentary elections within 24 months from March 1, 2007, respect of the existing 1997 constitution, respect of an independent judiciary and human rights standards.
Suspension of EU aid would have been devastating for Fiji's vulnerable economy, which relies almost entirely on tourism and sugar. The EU is supporting efforts by Fiji's sugar industry to cope with lower world prices and modernisation.
A former British colony of about 900,000 people, Fiji had its Commonwealth membership suspended after the coup, as it did after two similar upheavals in 1987, and a third coup again in 2000.
- REUTERS
