The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon has assured Fijian Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama that the UN is doing its utmost to obtain the unconditional and immediate release of the Fijian peacekeepers detained by rebels in Syria.

A statement on the UN website says, the UN Secretary General had a phone conversation yesterday Bainimarama – in the margins of the Small Island Developing States Conference in Apia, Samoa.

It says the Secretary-General also hoped that the process leading to elections in Fiji on 17 September will be peaceful, transparent and participatory.