President to stay, says Fiji leader

Frank Bainimarama. File photo / Greg Bowker

Fiji Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama has dismissed claims President Epeli Nailatikau will be sacked.

"It's not true," Commodore Bainimarama told the FijiLive website yesterday. "Tell them [international media] not to be naughty."

On Wednesday, it was reported that Ratu Epeli would be removed from office within 24 hours after reports he helped a runaway senior army officer to escape to Tonga.

Political sources in Suva said the Prime Minister planned to sack Ratu Epeli, whose brother-in-law is Lieutenant Colonel Tevita Mara.

Colonel Mara was on bail for sedition last week when he was spirited out of the country on a Tongan Navy boat.

Ratu Epeli and Colonel Mara are both related to the Tongan King.

Meanwhile, former PM Sitiveni Rabuka said the Tongan Navy's extraction of Colonel Mara might have been a violation of Fiji's sovereignty if it took place in territorial waters.

General Rabuka said if the location from which the SOS call made by Colonel Mara had been broadcast, it would determine whether he was in Fijian territorial waters. The Fiji Navy referred questions to police.

- NZPA