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Malaysian foreign minister Datuk Anifah Aman - Source: ONE News -
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Fiji will be suspended from the Commonwealth on September 1 if it does not guarantee it will hold democratic elections next year.
Commonwealth foreign ministers, including New Zealand's Murray McCully, issued the ultimatum at a meeting in London, where the deteriorating situation in Fiji was debated.
Members agreed Fiji's situation has deteriorated markedly since March and decided that if there is not enough progress toward a return to democracy, the country will be fully suspended from the Commonwealth on September 1.
The Malaysian foreign minister Datuk Anifah Aman issued the ultimatum.
"We're saying that by September 10 if the secretary-general hasn't received a positive response - sorry September 1st then it will be suspended - fully suspended," Aman said.
The Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) warned Fiji four months ago that it would be thrown out unless it made progress towards restoring democracy.
Since then, interim Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama has said he will not hold elections until 2014 and has ditched the constitution.
McCully said that was unacceptable.
"The time-table announced by the commodore 2014 is explicitly rejected by the Commonwealth. Elections next year are the ultimatum of the Commonwealth."
But the Commonwealth ministers are believed to be split over Fiji's immediate suspension.
The group met for over eight hours. That is the longest the CMAG has ever taken to reach a decision over a communiqué and shows there's still some disharmony over how to deal with Fiji.
McCully says Fiji's leader must commit to elections, open a proper dialogue with other political groups, and accept supervision by the United Nations.
"I think today what we've seen is a very thorough discussion and I'm happy that we've had a thorough discussion."
McCully says while the ultimatum gives the Fijian regime time to think about the path they are on, he's not holding out much hope of a positive response from Suva. But he says it's important for an international organisation such as the Commonwealth to act in good faith and signal its intentions clearly.
"It's in the commodore's hands and I hope he thinks very carefully about the decision that he makes," McCully said.
Full suspension will mean Fiji stops receiving aid from the 53 member nations and will be banned from next year's Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.
McCully says he will continue to pressure the UN over the use of Fijian troops as peacekeepers.
He says Fiji is paid handsomely for the work and he wonders if it's appropriate for the military to be peacekeeping abroad when they have overthrown their own government.
McCully says the United Nations has to accept that its role as a good international citizen should require it to bring those deployments to a conclusion.
He says he will continue to push the issue with the United Nations and with the leaders of others key players in peacekeeping operations like the US and EU.
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