Opposition to Amnesty Bill grows

[posted 31 May 2005, 1500]

A group of concerned citizens met in Suva on Monday to express their opposition to the amnesty Bill to be tabled in parliament today.

The meeting was organised by the NGO Coalition and had Law Society president Graham Leung, NGO spkesman on Human Rights Ponipate Ravula and Susana Tuisawau of the Group of Concerned Women among its speakers.

The group has decided to send individual letters of protest to the Prime Minister and Leader of Opposition against the tabling of the Bill.

Meanwhile, the chairman of the Great Council of Chiefs Ratu Ovini Bokini said reconciliation cannot be forced.

Ratu Ovini was speaking at the Ratu Sukuna Day celebrations on Monday.

"(Reconciliation) must be allowed to grow through a shared understanding of what we all want and where we are all heading," the Fiji Times reported him saying.

He said Fijians needed time, patience, good leadership and the support of other communities.

"Only then can we negotiate seriously about what to give and what to take and this process takes time and patience," he was reported as saying.