Rebel supporters plunge Fiji into darkness

Rebel supporters plunge Fiji into darkness
AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE

SUVA, JULY 6: Supporters of Fiji coup leader George Speight put the country's main power station out of action on Thursday, plunging the capital Suva into total darkness.

The move came after the military began attempting to seal off the parliamentary complex where Speight and his supporters are holding 27 hostages, including the country's elected Prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry.

Witnesses said hundreds of Speight supporters, who had assembled outside the Queen Elizabeth Barracks, the military's headquarters, had stoned cars and began attempting to loot businesses in the centre of the capital.

But an AFP reporter, who arrived at the scene shortly afterwards, said the crowd appeared to be calm with a heavy contingent of armed troops guarding the entry to the barracks.

Fiji's electricity authority told Fiji TV that the water-supply to the main Monosavu Power Station had been cut off by the indigenous Fijians who own the land on which it is located. It was likely to be upto 14 hours before the electricity supply could be restored.

Parts of the country were getting electricity from diesel generators, and emergency generators were ensuring a supply to parliament and the barracks. Fiji's military authorities, who assumed power on May 29 after declaring martial law, set an exclusion zone around Parliament from midnight on Wednesday in an attempt to isolate Speight.

Troops around the complex, however, made no attempt to prevent people from moving in and out. Speight had warned the hostages would be in danger if that happened. Speight and a gang of special forces soldiers stormed Parliament on May 19, deposing Chaudhry in the name of Fiji's indigenous population. Ethnic Indians make up over 40 per cent of the population.