2 Nov 2006

Australian call to invoke Forum role in Fiji crisis

3:56 pm on 2 November 2006

There's a call for the Pacific Islands Forum to step into the Fiji crisis.

The foreign affairs spokesman for Australia's opposition labour party, Kevin Rudd, says the Forum has a diplomatic mechanism to deal with political instability in the region.

He says the Biketawa Declaration, which allows for an emergency meeting of foreign ministers to be called if any of the Forum's member states are threatened with grave political instability, should be activated.

He says there is a need for an immediate diplomatic action on the part of the foreign ministers of the region to see what can be done to help democracy to prevail in Fiji.