Leaders threaten to isolate Fiji

It is the first time the regional grouping has threatened to suspend a member

South Pacific leaders have warned Fiji it faces suspension from their regional grouping if it fails to show progress towards holding elections.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said the region was speaking with "a united voice" in demanding a return to democracy in the small archipelago.

Fijian leader Frank Bainimarama seized power in a December 2006 coup.

He had previously pledged to hold polls by March 2006 but now claims lengthy electoral reforms are needed first.

He sparked outrage when he boycotted this week's meeting of the Pacific Islands Forum, which ends on Thursday.

Unanimous

In a unanimous statement, forum participants demanded Mr Bainimarama account for why he had not kept to "undertakings given at the 2007 forum in Tonga to hold an election by March 2009".

Frank Bainimarama says Fiji's current electoral system is racist

The statement charged a ministerial task force with reporting back to the forum on progress towards holding elections in Fiji by the end of this year.

Should progress be shown to be insufficient, measures including Fiji's suspension from the group would be considered, the statement said.

It is the first time the 16-nation forum has threatened to suspend a member in its 37-year history.

"For the first time this Pacific Islands Forum has condemned directly the actions of Bainimarama... in failing to honour his undertakings to the Pacific Island leaders a year or so ago," Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd told reporters, according to Reuters news agency.

"Secondly, for the first time, the leaders of the Pacific Islands Forum have embraced the possibility of suspension of a member state...to be adopted against Fiji should they continue not to embrace their undertakings for March 2009 elections."

He praised the forum for speaking with a "united voice" on the issue, saying it was a "very hard nut to crack".

Meanwhile, New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said Mr Bainimarama was risking aid revenues and should "think carefully before he walks that road".

Divisions

There was no immediate reaction from Fiji.

But Mr Bainimarama has been outspoken in his criticism of Australia and New Zealand, whom he accuses of "victimising" Fiji and of orchestrating a campaign against him.

He says far-reaching electoral reforms are needed to rectify a "racist, divisive, undemocratic and unfair electoral system".

These, he says, would delay elections originally scheduled to take place by March 2009 by between 12 and 15 months.

Mr Bainimarama argues that such reforms are necessary to try to overcome some of the deep divisions that remain in Fiji between the majority indigenous population and Fijians of Indian background.

Mr Bainimarama has governed Fiji since ousting elected Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase in December 2006, accusing him of corruption.