US, Pacific nations press Fiji on elections

APIA, Samoa (AFP) - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice joined her counterparts from Pacific island nations here Saturday to press Fiji's coup leaders to revive plans for elections next year.

It was the first visit to Samoa by a US secretary of state in two decades.

Brigadier-General Ratu Epeli Nailatikau, Fiji's interim foreign minister, attended the talks hosted by Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaepa Lupesoliai Sailele Malielegao, who is also foreign minister, a US official said.

Earlier this month Fiji's interim Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama reneged on a promise to hold elections by March 2009, saying the timetable was no longer achievable because of the need for electoral reforms.

Bainimarama led a military coup in December 2006 which overthrew the elected government, accusing it of corruption and racism against the Indian minority, and has been under pressure to return the country to democracy.

Rice arrived here from Auckland accompanied by New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters, to attend the meeting of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), which includes New Zealand, Australia, and 14 island states, including Fiji.

During talks earlier in New Zealand, on the other side of the international dateline, Rice pledged to lend her voice to efforts by the PIF to persuade Fiji to revive plans to hold polls in March 2009.

"There is especialy hard work to do concerning Fiji," Rice told a gathering of business leaders, members of parliament and others in Auckland, the New Zealand business capital.

It is a case "where the return to democracy is an absolute necessity, where free peoples everywhere are speaking out for the importance of elections in Fiji and that those elections should not be based on any other conditions but the ability to hold an election -- something that the government of Fiji has promised to do next year and should do," Rice said.

The pair travelled the next day to Apia aboard Rice's plane.

A senior State Department official told reporters travelling with Rice that the main topic would be Fiji, but added that Rice also wanted to meet with PIF members "to hear what's on their minds" on a range of topics.

"I expect climate change will come up," the official said on the condition of anonymity.

Other issues could include the threat from overfishing by non-regional powers.

The last secretary of state to visit Samoa was George Schultz, who served under president Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. Like Rice, his visit was also preceded by stops in New Zealand and Australia.

In addition to New Zealand and Australia, PIF is composed of the Cook Islands, Fiji, Samoa, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, Solomon Islands, Nauru, Tonga, Vanuatu, Palau, Tuvalu, and Papua New Guinea.

The meeting of foreign ministers is due to pave the way for a summit next month in Niue, Polynesia.

A US official said Washington contributed some 330 million dollars in assistance in fiscal year 2007 to Pacific nations, particularly the Marshall Islands and Micronesia.