The Honolulu Advertiser from Honolulu, Hawaii • 2

I A2 Wednesday, May 24, 2000 The HcHwluh Advertiser Tribal chiefs back Fiji president LrJU j-jIBBX J-JJjJj I J-lJ rtm i A DIGEST OF REGIONAL NEWS Late premier's daughter to run Sympathy expressed for rebels' views 1 1 1 mi i.i nnniTTinnrm- ixmt Associated Press SUVA, Fyi Tribal chiefs said yesterday that they sympathize with the views of gunmen who are holding members of the ethnic Indian-led government hostage, but the chiefs threw their support to Fiji's president, who has condemned the gunmen and demanded the captives' release. The meeting of the Great Council of Chiefs came on the fifth day of a crisis that began when gunmen angry that ethnic Indians have power in this majority Fijian nation stormed parliament and took Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry and other leaders hostage. As the council met, about 60 men continued to hold Chaudhry and at least 20 members of his Cabinet and governing coalition inside the parliament grounds in Suva, the capital. There were reports that property owned by ethnic Indians was being looted and burned by mobs of masked men. Outside the parliament, meanwhile, police conducted a low-key siege, manning roadblocks but rarely stopping people who entered the parliament grounds to show their support for the rebels.

George Speight, the rebel leader, has declared himself prime minister and installed what he calls an interim government But President Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara is not among the hostages, and yesterday the chiefs gave Mara their backing to run the government for now. Although it has little legislative power, the chiefs' council retains moral authority over indigenous Fi-jians, who for centuries were ruled Associated Press Yuko Obuchi, second daughter of the late Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, announced her candidacy for Japan's lower house at a news conference yesterday. Obuchi, 26, is running for her father's former seat in the election scheduled for June 25. Associated Press Gunmen direct journalists to keep low as they pass through the gates of the Fiji parliament building in Suva after gun shots were fired at the press. No one was injured in the incident slaughtered pig cooked whole in a lovo, a hole in the ground filled with fire-heated rocks and covered witheartK Supporters offered Speignt yaqona, sang traditional Fijian songs with him and thanked him.

"Give Fiji back to the Fijians to rule," said one woman who asked not to be named. "Give us a Fijian government" Ethnic Indians descendants of indentured labor brought to the islands by British colonizers to work as cane cutters make up 44 percent of the population of 813.0Q0. Indigenous Fijians are 51 percent Alexander Downer said late yesterday he feared it would not be a peaceful conclusioa "We're deeply concerned about the risk of bloodshed. It's an extremely ugly and unacceptable situation," he said. Meanwhile, up to 2,000 supporters of Speight and his gunmen gathered inside the parliament grounds and held a quiet rally that was reminiscent of a family barbecue.

Men sat crossed-legged on mats of woven leaves, slowly clapping their hands and drinking yaqona, a drink made from crushed plants that is a mild sedative. Nearby, a by hereditary chiefs. The chiefs are in support of the president and they do not approve of what Speight has done, although there is a lot of sympathy for the views expressed by his said Sitiveni Rabuka, the council's president The chiefs were meeting today to consider Speight's main demand changes to the constitution to entrench indigenous Fijians in power. The chiefs will also decide whether they think Speight should escape prosecution for his role in the uprising, Rabuka said While Rabuka said he was optimistic the crisis would end today, Australian Foreign Minister ing that China and Taiwan deal with each other as one state to another. Japan premier faces rebuke TOKYO The opposition agreed yesterday to submit a no-confidence motion in Parliament against Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori over his statement that Japan is a "divine" natioa The motion has virtually no chance of passing because Mori's Liberal Democratic Party and its allies control more than two-thirds of the 500-seat lower house.

Mori, who took office last month, touched off a political firestorm when he said during a speech last week that Japan is a "divine nation centered on the emperor." His remarks were widely criticized. Advertiser news services TV NEWS OF ASIA AND THE PACIFIC kW3 OCEANIC CABLE 9 GTE AMER1CAST 10 www.kikutv.com ASIA Kidnapper admits 9-year abduction TOKYO A Japanese man pleaded guilty yesterday to kidnapping a schoolgirl at knifepoint in 1990 and holding her captive for nine years. Nobuyuki Sato grabbed Fusako Sano while the 9-year-old was on her way home from school and stuffed her into the trunk of his car, prosecutors said. Sano is now 19. They said Sato kept the girl in the second floor of his home in Kashiwazaki, 160 miles northwest of Tokyo.

She was rescued in January by hospital workers. Police were criticized for failing to investigate Sato, even though he was arrested in 1989 for trying to kidnap another girl and was on probation at the time of Sano's disappearance. Beijing denounces governor of Tokyo BEIJING Beijing yesterday accused Tokyo's outspoken governor of being "an anti-China diehard" and warned Japan against allowing a visit by Taiwan's former president China was angered by Gov. Shintaro Ishihara's attendance at the inauguration Saturday of new Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian and by his reported comments comparing Chinese President Jiang Zemin to Adolf Hitler. "Shintaro Ishihara has always been been hostile to China and the Chinese people and undermines Sino-Japanese relations," said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue.

Zhang also warned Japan not to allow a visit by Lee Teng-hui, Chen's predecessor, who infuriated Beijing last year by demand Travel ca' Air, Room, Car Room A Car $139 HOffRIPS $36 J4-, VALUE PACKS Jopan or Hong Kong Lot Angeles from $314rt San Francisco ft, UUd SeattleorPortandWAr, Las Vegas from $408 rf FCI NEWS EXPRESS M-F DATELINE PHILIPPINES M-F GLOBAL REPORT M-F INTERNATIONAL REPORT M-F TV PATROL M-F WORLD REPORT M-F FCI NEWS EXPRESS M-F JAPANESE FILIPINO VIETNAMESE CANTONESE FILIPINO MANDARIN JAPANESE 12n-1 rim 1 -M BFGotxMtH DUNIRGYALD Triad. And Ttd PACIFIC ISLANDS Olympic torch reaches Palau KOROR, Palau The Olympic torch continued its journey across the Pacific from Guam with a 24-hour stopover in Palau yesterday. Palau is the second of 13 Pacific stops for the torch before it arrives in Australia on June 8. Today, the torch will arrive in the Federated States of Micronesia. Compiled by Pacific Islands Development Program (East-West Center) Center for Pacific Islands Studies (University of Hawaii).

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