FIJI: COUP: HOSTAGE CRISIS LATEST

(8 Jul 2000) English/Nat
XFA
A second hostage crisis erupted on Saturday in Fiji as armed rebels supporting coup leader George Speight seized 30 soldiers, police and government officials in a police station outside Suva.
And a defiant Speight said there would be more unrest until the military gave in to his demands.
But Speight also offered hope of an outcome to the crisis that has gripped Fiji since he and six gunmen stormed
Parliament on May 19 and took the democratically elected government hostage.
Earlier on Saturday, a spokesman for the second gang of hostage takers, Iferemi Tiko, told reporters he was a
cousin of Speight and that the latest action was in support of Speight's aims to disenfranchise ethnic Indians.
Tiko led about 100 rebels armed with tire irons, steel pipes and other makeshift weapons who took over a military
checkpoint in Korovou, about 60 kilometres (40 miles) outside Suva, at 8:30 a-m (2030 GMT Friday) before
confiscating six M-16 rifles and storming the town's small police station.
The rebels demanded the resignation of military head of state Commodore Frank Bainimarama, one of Speight's key demands.
The hostages included local soldiers, police and government officials.
Nobody was injured and the rebels said they did not want to see bloodshed.
Tiko said he and his supporters were "very disappointed" by the military's recent tactics at Parliament, where
Speight and a gang of gunmen are holding 27 hostages including deposed Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry.
The army had given Speight and his supporters until midnight Saturday to leave the area, but that deadline has
now been shelved indefinitely while talks to resolve the crisis are underway.
They also shot and wounded five Speight supporters in a gun battle on Tuesday.
Korovou, which is close to Speight's home village, was generally calm and most shops remained open.
The rebels set up a roadblock outside town made up of a refrigerator, engine parts, a wheelbarrow and two trucks.
Tiko described the hostages as his "guests" and said they were being treated well - which is how Speight also
describes his hostages.
Also on Saturday, Speight supporters closed the main road between Fijian capital Suva and Nadi, where the country's international airport is located.
The army appealed for calm on national radio and insisted they were still in control.
Days of civil unrest across Fiji - including local landowners shutting down the largest island's main hydroelectric power station - have shown the depth of support for the rebels and prompted the military to restart stalled peace talks.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"We are just holding them town. You must be aware we've taken the town and I've just heard the Queen's Road has been closed now we are blocking off the King's Road."
SUPER CAPTION: Iferemi Tiko, Speight supporter
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"We all disagree with this interim government, we disagree with it. We believe in the cause which George Speight is taking, because that cause is for all of us."
SUPER CAPTION: Iferemi Tiko, Speight supporter
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"The free wills of our Fijian people who've been waiting very patiently and impassively for the dialogues and talks to take place since they've reached an impasse, well the thing the military has always been saying from day one is that they've always questioned the support of the people so I've always been saying OK, if you really want to test it just go on and it's going to escalate as the hours go by."
SUPER CAPTION: George Speight, rebel leader
SOUNDBITE: (English)
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