KEY POINTS:
SUVA - The United States has stepped up pressure on Fiji to quickly return the country to democratic rule, saying it will consider easing its post-coup restrictions in return.
US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Glyn Davis offered the carrot to Fiji's military rulers today, demanding they also put an end to human rights abuses in the country.
The increased US pressure echoes calls by Australia and New Zealand for military commander and self-appointed interim Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama to rapidly restore democracy following his December coup.
Bainimarama earlier this month announced a "road map to democracy" but said Fiji would not be ready for a general election until 2010.
Meanwhile, his military regime is facing ongoing accusations of human rights abuses, including allegations that soldiers beat a 19-year-old man so badly that he later died.
Fiji's Citizens' Constitutional Reform group blamed soldiers for Sakiusa Rabaka Ligaiviu's death on Saturday, after the military detained him late last month and allegedly forced him to strip and beat him while he was made to run up a hill carrying heavy sacks.
Amnesty International has also expressed concern over rights abuses, including "threats against coup critics, arbitrary detention and torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment of civil society activists and media professionals".
Davis said today the Republic of Fiji Military Forces (RFMF) had in the past made valuable contributions to international peacekeeping operations.
It was "unfortunate the hard-won RFMF reputation for protecting international human rights abroad has been tarnished by serious abuses of those same human rights at home," he said.
But Davis said the military had much to gain by ending rights abuses and pursuing a hasty return to democracy, including the possibility of the US lifting sanctions.
"If the military and interim government take rapid and decisive steps to return Fiji to democratic rule and to adhere to the rule of law, we are willing to consider easing some of our policy restrictions," he said.
"The key is that the military and the interim government must take those first steps.
"Some of the sanctions against Fiji - such as our bans on military assistance - are mandated by US legislation and will remain in place until a determination is made that a democratic government is back in place."
Australia and New Zealand have also imposed sanctions on Fiji following the coup.
And Australia has called a meeting of Pacific Islands Forum ministers in Vanuatu next month, pushing for regional consensus on how best to pressure Fiji to restore democracy.
"I want to stress US support for the ongoing Pacific Islands Forum process, including the upcoming forum foreign ministers meeting ..." Davis said.
- AAP
