Fiji situation has worsened, says New Zealand minister

May 31, 2010, 10:10 GMT

Wellington - Fiji's foreign minister failed to persuade Pacific counterparts Monday that the military regime running the country for three and a half years was making efforts to restore democracy.

The situation in the island state has worsened, New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully told reporters after hearing Ratu Inoke Kubuabola's account of progress at a meeting of the ministerial action group on Fiji established by the Pacific Islands Forum.

'There were shortcomings in the report which are not new ones,' said McCully, who waived his government's travel ban on all members of Fiji military strongman Voreqe Bainimarama's regime to allow Kubuabola to attend the meeting in Auckland.

The group's chairman, Tonga Prime Minister Feleti Sevele, told a news conference Kubuabola invited the ministers to Fiji to see the situation for themselves. Sevele said they hope to meet political opposition leaders to get different points of view.

Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said the group had to accept the invitation. 'In our view, it is the most effective way of getting a judgment about what is happening on the ground.'

He said he hoped the group would have an influence on when fresh elections will be held.

The 16-member Pacific Islands Forum suspended Fiji's membership after Bainimarama, who seized power in a bloodless coup in December 2006, reneged on a promise to hold early elections.

The military strongman said he would not call elections until 2014, after electoral laws that favour indigenous Fijians over the ethnic Indian minority could be changed.