The Commonwealth yesterday suspended Fiji from the decision-making bodies of the 54-nation body but

The Commonwealth yesterday suspended Fiji from the decision-making bodies of the 54-nation body, but stopped short of tougher measures, to avoid jeopardising the safety of the hostages there and inflicting major damage to the Fijian economy.
Almost three weeks after the failed businessman George Speight took the country’s Prime Minister and a clutch of top officials prisoner, an emergency session of Commonwealth foreign ministers in London decided that the South Pacific country should be “suspended from the councils of the Commonwealth”.This is the same step as was taken against Pakistan after the 1999 army coup there, but it stopped short of the full suspension inflicted on Nigeria in the mid-1990s.The ministers, however, handed only a diplomatic “yellow card” to the Solomon Islands, scene of a virtual copycat coup attempt by militant groups against the democratically elected government of the archipelago’s Prime Minister, Bartholomew Ulufa’alu.A top-level delegation headed by the foreign ministers of Australia and New Zealand is travelling to the Fijian capital, Suva – perhaps as early as today – to spell out in person the Commonwealth’s key demands: The unconditional release of the Prime Minister, Mahendra Chaudhry, and the other hostages, and a time-table for the return of democracy and restoration of the 1997 multiracial constitution.The suspension cuts Fiji out of major Commonwealth meetings, but keeps lines of communication open. Alexander Downer, the Australian Foreign Minister, said it would be “irresponsible” to impose trade and economic sanctions which could “destroy the Fijian economy for years”. Those who suffered, he went on, would not be the coup organisers, but ordinary Fijians. “Despite our immense anger at what’s happened, it is not right to destroy the Fijian economy”, Mr Downer stressed, warning of the ripple effect throughout the entire South Pacific basin.On the Solomon Islands, the Commonwealth believes that the situation could yet be resolved with the release of the Prime Minister, who yesterday indicated that he was willing to resign in order to prevent civil war, but only if parliament is convened.If, however, things do not improve, then similar partial suspension could be imposed on the Solomon Islands, with their population of some 400,000.A three-hour battle for control of the airport outside the capital, Honiara, erupted between Malaita Eagle Force rebels, who took over Honiara and detained Mr Ulufa’alu at gunpoint on Monday, and the rival Isatabu Freedom Movement.

About 1,000 people confronted each other, armed with spears, axes and home-made guns. Four members of the Malaita Eagles were injured and taken to hospital.The attempted coup follows 18 months of sporadic ethnic violence in the Solomons, where Isatabu militants on the main island of Guadalcanal have been driving migrants from Malaita, another island, from their homes. The Guadalcanese resent the domination of politics and business in Honiara by Malaitans. Some 60 people have died in the fighting.Among those caught up in the violence in the former British protectorate are two British MEPs, Glenys Kinnock, wife of the former Labour leader, and John Corrie. Theyhad gone to the Solomons to try to mediate between the warring factions. Mrs Kinnock said last night: “The town has been claimed by these kind of Rambo-style young men.” She said that she had seen Mr Ulufa’alu yesterday, and that the Prime Minister appeared to be in reasonable health.The Eagles are reportedly acting with the co-operation of up to half of the country’s paramilitary police force, the closest that the Solomons has to an army.

The Isatabu militia said in a statement yesterday that the police force appeared “incapable or unwilling” to perform its duties. It called for international help before “the disintegration of the Solomon Islands as a nation-state”, saying: “A neutral force from outside (possibly Australia, New Zealand or the United Nations) should be brought in.”A Solomon Islands government official said that rival bands of rebels were fighting both east and west of Honiara, with the Eagles much better armed than their adversaries after seizing guns and ammunition from the police armoury.The EU yesterday condemned the coup attempt, and the UN secretary-general, Kofi Annan, urged the immediate release of the hostages and a return to constitutional rule.. Rescuers on the Indonesian island of Sumatra struggled in the face of bad weather, power cuts and landslides yesterday to reach victims of a massive earthquake that has killed more than 100 people and left thousands homeless. Rescuers on the Indonesian island of Sumatra struggled in the face of bad weather, power cuts and landslides yesterday to reach victims of a massive earthquake that has killed more than 100 people and left thousands homeless.
Authorities predicted that the number of casualties would rise sharply, given the difficulty faced by rescue teams in getting to remote villages in Bengkulu province on Sumatra’s west coast, the region worst affected by Sunday night’s quake, which measured 7.9 on the Richter scale.Frequent aftershocks rippled across Bengkulu province yesterday, sending frightened people out of shelters and into the streets.In Bengkulu town, jittery residents prepared for another night in makeshift shelters, with tattered tents and plastic sheeting held up by bamboo poles lining the town’s debris-strewn streets. Families huddled around paraffin lamps, although many expressed gratitude that one of the world’s biggest earthquakes in a decade had not completely levelled the town of 260,000 people.In northern Turkey, a strong earthquake early yesterday killed at least two people and injured nearly 100, as the country still struggles to return to normal after the terrible effects of last year’s quakes, which killed 18,000.The ground began to shake at 5.45am Panicking, people tried to flee their homes.

Several people were injured throwing themselves from upper-storey windows or balconies The shaking went on for 30 seconds. “We shook so hard, I threw myself out of the window,” said Ramazan Aydin. “I panicked so much I didn’t know what I was doing.” Mr Aydin broke his back.In the capital, Ankara, 60 miles south of the epicentre of the quake, people ran into the streets and spent the rest of the night in the open, too scared to go inside – though there was no damage reported in the city. Nearer the epicentre, which was in the small town of Cerkes, dozens of buildings collapsed. But the quake struck in a rural area, where buildings were made of mud and wood, and most people were able to escape from the wreckage. In last year’s earthquakes, thousands were trapped under poorly constructed concrete buildings which had collapsed.Yesterday’s tremor measured 5.9 on the Richter scale, and was followed by nine aftershocks, the strongest with a magnitude of 4.5 Last August’s earthquake measured 7.4.. Ibrahim Kamara held up the diamond with the one hand he had left.