Pacific island leaders urged to engage Fiji

VANUATU: Pacific island leaders were urged Wednesday to keep talking to the military rulers of Fiji, despite its suspension from the region's main political grouping over their failure to restore democracy.

Vanuatu Prime Minister Edward Natapei, the incoming head of the 16-member Pacific Islands Forum, said he was concerned about Fiji's breaches of democratic rule and human rights under military strongman Voreqe Bainimarama.

But he said: "As leaders of Pacific island nations we have a duty and responsibility to remain engaged with Fiji so that democratic principles and practices can be restored in Fiji as soon as possible."

Fiji was suspended by the forum, which includes some of the world's smallest and most impoverished countries, after coup leader Bainimarama failed to hold elections in 2009 as promised. PORT VILA, Tuesday, AFP