SUVA, Fiji: Fiji's powerful tribal chiefs on Friday refused to recognize last week's military takeover, and said they would hold consultations next week with the ousted prime minister on the country's future.Great Council of Chiefs chairman Ratu Ovini Bokini said the group still considers one of its members, Ratu Josefa Iloilo, to be Fiji's president — a direct challenge to armed forces chief Commodore Frank Bainimarama's claim to have seized presidential powers on Dec. 5.
"That is a non-issue," Bokini said of Iloilo's status. "He's still the president."
The opposition of the chiefs, who hold constitutional power to appoint the president and have huge influence among the South Pacific island nation's indigenous Fijian majority, is a stumbling block for Bainimarama's plans.