Rice urges Fiji military to restore democracy

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, left, glances at New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, during a joint press conference at Government House, in Auckland, New Zealand, Saturday, July 26, 2008. (AP Photo/NZPA, Wayne Drought)

APIA, Samoa—Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pressed Fiji's military-led government Saturday to keep its promise to restore democracy early next year, during a rare visit by America's top diplomat to the far-flung South Pacific.

Rice held talks with counterparts from 16 island nations from the region, which is struggling with a range of issues from rising sea levels to rampant poverty, instability and ethnic strife.

A key focus of the talks in Apia, Samoa, was regional efforts to get Fiji's military commander Commodore Frank Bainimarama, who seized power in a December 2006 coup, to keep his promise to hold elections by next April.

Earlier this month, Bainimarama postponed the elections he had assured the South Pacific Forum regional bloc, saying the timetable was unachievable because he wants to make electoral reforms that could not be completed in time.

The announcement prompted widespread condemnation and New Zealand and Australia -- the two most powerful countries in the region -- are demanding that the decision be reversed.

Officials said Fiji was one of the key topics of Rice's discussions Saturday with the regional leaders. They were held in private, though Rice set the tone during a speech earlier in New Zealand.

"There is especially hard work to do concerning Fiji where a return to democracy is an absolute necessity," Rice said. "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 and has promised to do next year and should do forthright."

Rice's visit to Samoa is the first by a U.S. secretary of state since George Shultz in 1988.

Also discussed Saturday was U.S. aid to the region, which totaled $330 million in 2007, the most recent year that figures are available.

The South Pacific has been hit in recent years by communal and sectarian violence in the Solomon Islands and Tonga, the 2006 coup in Fiji was the country's fourth since 1988, and Papua New Guinea is one of several countries where crime and corruption are rampant.