Fiji date cancelled

A planned visit by a senior Commonwealth official to encourage Fiji's military regime to hold democratic elections has been cancelled because of a clash of diary dates.

Fiji's leader, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, issued an invitation to the Commonwealth after being warned his nation would be tossed out of the 53-member group of countries if it failed to commit to holding democratic elections next year.

A spokesman for Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma said while the invitation was viewed as a "positive" move on Fiji's part, there were no suitable dates for it to go ahead.