New Fiji government sworn in as hostage crisis drags on

SUVA, Fiji - An all-Fijian temporary government was sworn in Tuesday in defiance of hostage takers who are holding 27 members of the ousted, Indian-led government at gunpoint in parliament.

Banking executive Laisenia Qarase became prime minister in an appointment that provoked the anger of the hostage takers who had demanded a role in naming any new government.

In a speech after being sworn in, Qarase said he accepted the job as prime minister as a ''call for national unity.'' He urged the gunmen to release the hostages immediately so Fiji can begin rebuilding its shattered economy.

Qarase said his government will give priority to protecting indigenous Fijian rights, but that ''no communities will be excluded ... in our multiracial and multicultural society.''

''All communities have a cherished and valued place in our country,'' he said.

Dressed in traditional Sulu skirts, 19 indigenous Fijian men swore to ''be faithful and bear true allegiance to the Republic of the Fijian Islands'' during a ceremony Tuesday at military headquarters in the capital, Suva.

The ceremony could not be held at parliament because that is where rebels led by former insurance executive George Speight have been holding the ousted government hostage for more than six weeks in what they call a battle for indigenous Fijian rights.

Defying the hostage takers, the country's military leader on Monday named the temporary civilian government but said he will retain power until the captives are freed.

Commodore Frank Bainimarama - who assumed power 10 days after rebels stormed parliament on May 19 and took the government hostage - appointed the interim leaders without input from the gunmen, who had demanded a role.

Speight said Monday the army may pay a high price for ''completely ignoring'' him.

''There's a very big possibility of making a lot of people really upset,'' he said.

Even so, no members of the Indian minority are in the new government. ''We approached two very well-qualified members of the Indian community, but they declined,'' Bainimarama said.

After Speight's raid on parliament, the army gave in to most of his demands to disenfranchise Fiji's ethnic Indians, including firing Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry - a hostage and the first Fijian of Indian ancestry to lead the country. The army also threw out the 1997 multiracial constitution.

Indians were brought to Fiji over a century ago by English colonialists seeking indentured laborers for rich sugar cane fields. Today, they make up about 44 percent of Fiji's population, while indigenous Fijians account for about 51 percent.

Many Fijians were angered by Chaudhry's refusal to raise rents charged to Indian sugar cane farmers on land communally owned by indigenous people.

Bainimarama said he will remain head of state until all the hostages are safely released, the gunmen turn over their weapons, and public order is restored.

Bainimarama said the interim government will rule for 18 months and set guidelines for a new constitution. The old one ''will not be reinstated,'' he said.

The new government should work for Fiji's poor indigenous majority, and for ''the protection of the rights of Indians and other communities that are an integral part of our nation,'' he said.

The military has cordoned off the parliamentary compound where the hostages are being held, and army spokesman Lt. Alipate Mataitini said the military will tighten its cordon.

Bainimarama said the hostage crisis has cost Fiji 5,000 jobs, $96 million in lost exports, $96 million in lost revenues and untold losses in talent by people who have fled the country.

Qarase, the new prime minister, is known more as a manager than a politician. He has been head of the Merchant Bank Fiji and is a former director of the Fiji Development Bank.

Speight has spoken positively of him, but Qarase was not his first choice for prime minister.