Military Seizes Control Of Fiji

Island Nation's Allies Denounce Power-Grab, Begin Cutting Ties With Government

(AP)  The military seized control of Fiji on Tuesday after weeks of threats, locking down the capital with armed troops and isolating at home the elected leader whose last-minute pleas for help from foreign forces were rejected.

The coup was the fourth armed takeover in the South Pacific country in 19 years, and had its roots in the same ethnic divide that produced the previous three.

Commodore Frank Bainimarama, the armed forces chief, announced in a nationally broadcast evening statement that, "As of 6 o'clock this evening, the military has taken over the government, has executive authority and the running of this country."

He said he had assumed some powers of the president and was using them to dismiss Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase, elected in May.

He named Dr. Jona Senilagakali, a military medic with no political experience, as caretaker prime minister and said a full interim government would be appointed next week to see the country through to elections that would restore democracy sometime in the future.

The move was denounced by elected officials and the president, the police force, and countries and international organizations with connections with Fiji.

"The government they want to set up will be totally illegal," Qarase told a small group of reporters inside his house in Suva, where he said he was under effective house arrest. "What the military commander has done has raped our Constitution."

New Zealand announced it was suspending defense ties with Fiji and would ban its military officers from traveling to the country. Bainimarama is believed to have children living in New Zealand.

"This is an outrage what is happening in Fiji," Prime Minister Helen Clark told reporters in Wellington, the New Zealand capital.

Britain also announced it was suspending military aid to Fiji, and Don McKinnon, the secretary general of 53-member Commonwealth of Britain and its former colonies, said Fiji was likely to be suspended from the group later this week.

Australia said it would impose similar measures soon.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard revealed that Qarase had asked him early Tuesday to send troops to Fiji to try to stop the coup. Howard refused.

"I did not think it was in Australia's national interest to become involved. The possibility of Australian and Fijian troops firing on each other in the streets of Suva was not a prospect that I for a moment thought desirable," Howard told reporters in Canberra.

[agnim]

"What are the causas belli of both the Fijians and Indians?
Posted by equern at 07:39 PM : Dec 05, 2006"

Blame the bungling brits. They are the ones who imposed the Indians upon the indigenous people and their space during british colonization.

And instead to taking the clannish and caste-loving Indians back to India, the brits left them on the Fiji islands to get in the way of the indigenous population.

[EthanQ]

Seems like this is another case in which you can't necessarily tell the bad guys from the good just by knowing the labels. It sounds like there are lot of racial/racist overtones in this battle and the reporting of this in this article and others I've read is very shallow. What are the causas belli of both the Fijians and Indians?

[olgreyghost]

No, but an armed populace can give him a run for his money...

[agnim]

"Here we have a lesson why Americans have a Second Amendment to back up the other nine in the Bill of Rights..."

Trust me; no amounts of asinine 'amendments' can stand in front of a powerful army and leader intent on marching. Remember that! LOL

[olgreyghost]

Here we have a lesson why Americans have a Second Amendment to back up the other nine in the Bill of Rights...

[agnim]

I for one have no problem with military leaders openly demonstrating that they are really the 'power that be' in a nation.

However, when the military leaders are as arrogant and as power-drunk and as maniacal as this Fijian fool, then things can get real distressing and deadly for the very citizens he should be protecting in the first place. Tsk-tsk

One thing is for certain, Vjay Singh isn't returning home any time soon for a game of golf. LOL

[gunnerv1]

tucson23 Sorry, but you don't get that high up in the Military chain without be exposed to a minimum of some 4 year Liberal Bastion. I ought to know, I served 21 years on active duty and now have worked for the past 18 years for a big 10 University.

[tucson23]

antoniof123, this is actually the reason that armies MUST be completely under the thumb of civilian authorities...I can only tremble in fear of the thought of our military generals deciding that if they don't like the laws Congress passes, that they can just take over and arrest elected leaders. You think Bush is a mindless conservative, try a military commander who originally joined up because "college wasn't for him," and who thinks the people are a bunch of hippies who don't know what's good for them. In the case of Fiji, the military was mad that 49% of the population (ethnic Indians) were starting to get some rights.

[brazzale]

Great! Now where am I going to vacation?

[olebd]

Maybe Bush can use OUR military to take over next so he can create a vacation resort for him and his kinfolk.

[antoniof123]

Well, at least this military do not just follow orders blindly or at least by the idiot Commander in Cheif of their country. I wonder how many more times tis will happen.