Fiji PM and 7 Cabinet ministers held hostage

SUVA, Fiji (CNN) -- Fiji's Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry and seven Cabinet ministers are reportedly being held hostage in the Fijian Parliament building.

Australian Broadcasting Corp radio reported that shots had apparently been fired inside the building after seven men, wearing civilian clothes, reportedly entered parliament at 10 a.m. Friday (2200 GMT Thursday).

Friday is the first anniversary of the election of Chaudhry's Indian-dominated government, which has been accused of exacerbating racial divisions in the South Pacific nation.

Telecom New Zealand advised that the phone service to Fiji has gone down.

In addition to his post as Prime Minister, Chaudhry is also the minister responsible for Finance, Public Enterprise, the Sugar Industry and the Public Service.

Fiji, a former British colony, won independence in 1970. However, in 1987 a military coup led by Lt. Col. Sitiveni Rabuka toppled a newly elected Indian-dominated coalition.

In 1990, a new constitution, favoring indigenous Fijians was introduced and Rabuka was named leader.

It was not immediately clear what the protesters wanted, but Chaudhry's Labor government has been under fire recently from Fijian nationalists for what they describe as pro-Indian policies.

All telephone lines to Fiji appeared to be cut. Callers from Australia were told in a recorded message: "The destination you have called is experiencing a service disruption."

Growing problems for government

New Zealand's foreign affairs ministry confirmed that Chaudhry and up to seven of his Cabinet ministers were being held in parliament.

Foreign Minister Phil Goff said he was extremely concerned by the reports of gunfire in parliament and would be seeking clarification of the situation as soon as possible.

After one year in power, Chaudhry, the first Fijian prime minister of Indian descent, has been facing a growing list of political problems.

Earlier this month, Chaudhry's government banned protest marches, saying police had warned they might not be able to cope with such large-scale demonstrations.

On April 28, several thousand Fijians rallied against the Chaudhry government in a march organized by opposition politicians of the former ruling Fijian Political Party, which Chaudhry's Labor Party defeated in a May 1999 general election under a new constitution.

Chaudhry's government allowed the protest to proceed.

Since the election, there has been a growing groundswell of Fijian nationalist opposition to Chaudhry.

Criticism centers mainly on attempts by Chaudhry, who is of Indian descent, to persuade Fijian landowners to renew expiring leases on farm land held by thousands of ethnic Indian tenants who are the core of his political support.

Opposition leader Ratu Inoke Kubuabola, a key figure behind a 1987 army coup that toppled a government in which Chaudhry was finance minister, earlier said the ban was "asking people to take the law into their own hands."

The government "must be ready to face the anger of the people, an anger they created by their insensitivity and arrogance, and an anger that grows by the day," he said.

Fiji, a Pacific Ocean island 2,250 miles northeast of Sydney, Australia, has fewer than one million people.
 

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