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 SUVA, Fiji (AP) - Fiji's indigenous chiefs met Thursday to mediate a growing dispute between the government and the military over legislation that would hand prime coastal land to natives and grant amnesty to participants in the 2000 coup. But military commander Frank Bainimarama was a no-show, saying there was "very little use" in attending the 51-member Great Council of Chiefs because "the chiefs have already decided what they are going to decide."
Earlier, Fiji One television reported that half the council's members had already given the government their support to pass a bill that would transfer coastal ownership to indigenous Fijians — one of two bills Bainimarama strongly opposes.
Bainimarama, an indigenous Fijian, has said the Qoliqoli Bill is racist and would wreck Fiji's tourism industry, which depends on idyllic palm-lined beaches.
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