Fiji Hostage Crisis Ends Peacefully

Thu., July 13, 2000

Coup leaders on Thursday released the remaining 18 hostages in a two-month-old parliamentary hostage crisis.

The hostage-takers held a traditional ceremony seeking forgiveness, then rebel leader George Speight shook hands and hugged deposed Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry before allowing him and the other hostages to be loaded onto two trucks.

The release followed a deal under which the military agreed to scrap the country’s multiracial constitution, depose Chaudhry - Fiji’s first prime minister of Indian descent - and grant Speight and his men amnesty.

The military seized control May 29, 10 days after Speight’s men raided Parliament.

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Fiji Hostage Crisis Ends Peacefully

Jesse Tinsley

Jim Meehan

Molly Quinn

Rob Curley

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