Fiji Crisis Hits Dealers of Traditional Drink Kava

SUVA, Fiji, Jun. 10 (AP) -- The central markets of Fiji's capital were buzzing today as shoppers jostled to buy coconuts, sweet potatoes in banana-leaf baskets and skipjack tuna unloaded from fishing boats bobbing behind the stalls.

But in the kava quarter, business has ground to a virtual halt as Fiji's government hostage standoff, now in its fourth week, begins to bite.

Kava is a mild sedative consumed ceremoniously at all sorts of Fijian events: family gatherings, business meetings -- even negotiations on freeing the prime minister and 30 other hostages who have been held by rebel gunmen since May 19.

Soon after the rebels nabbed their hostages, military leaders here declared martial law and took power. And when rebel leader George Speight met face-to-face for the first time with Fiji's new ruler, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, they sat in the barracks afterward drinking kava "as if nothing had happened," a military spokesman said.

But economic uncertainty has struck Fiji; thousands of workers have been laid off since Speight's rebels stormed parliament. That means luxuries like the Pacific island nation's national drink are being scratched off grocery lists. Others say the threat of violence has halted the transport of the roots used to make kava.

"People are afraid nowadays. They used to buy a dollar bag (worth 50 U.S. cents), but now they can't afford even that," kava trader Ritesh Kumar said today.

Kava, made by pounding the dried root or stem of the yaqona plant into a powder and then mixing it with water to form a gritty, gray liquid, is widely consumed in a number of Pacific states. Many people drink it from hollowed-out halves of coconut shells, though poorer households use a plastic dishwashing bowl. The solemn kava ritual involves rhythmic clapping as the drink is shared.

A bowl of kava's effect here is little more than a mild numbing sensation in the mouth and tongue, although the numbing can spread after a few more rounds. There reportedly has been just one prosecution, about six years ago, for driving under the influence of kava. People in some neighboring countries, though, prefer a more powerful brew that can almost immobilize the drinker after just one bowl.

In Fiji, local sales total $30 million annually -- twice the value of beer sales.

Kava also is exported to Europe and the United States to be made into pain relievers, muscle relaxants and other drugs. In 1998, kava exports from Fiji were worth $17 million.

But even the export trade is drying up, Kumar said.

"People are saying they don't want to buy Fijian kava since the coup," he said. "They can get it from other countries instead."

As Kumar spoke, three of his staff milled out behind his wooden trestle table loaded with tangled knots of roots and sacks of powder. No customers were in sight.

"I have four employees and maybe I'll have to tell three of them I can't pay them," he said.

Nearby, Sunny Chand was already counting the cost of the downturn in trade: He said his sales have been cut in half in the aftermath of the coup.

Business also was slow this week at the Vatuwaqa Kava store in an outlying suburb of Suva, capital of this country 2,250 miles northeast of Sydney, Australia. The dried roots, known as waka, and stems, known as lewena, were carefully wrapped in old newspaper and plastic bags, but nobody was buying them.

"Supplies come from the islands and they are not getting through," said Kamal Swamy, a physical education teacher minding the tiny store for a friend on Thursday.

"Also, people have no money now so we can't afford to buy stocks with no certainty they will be bought. There is also the likelihood that we will be robbed."