U.S., others react with dismay at turmoil in Fiji in South Pacific
SUVA, Fiji (AP) — Fiji’s military chief returned to power as this troubled country’s prime minister today, a day after the president suspended the constitution and fired the judges who had declared the military’s leader’s government illegal.
President Ratu Josefa Iloilo also declared a 30-day state of emergency, limiting freedom of speech and giving police expanded powers.
The radical moves ensure that military chief Frank Bainimarama retains control over this South Pacific country despite the court ruling Thursday that the 2006 coup in which he seized power — and therefore his government — was unlawful.
The turmoil marks the latest chapter in a long-running political crisis in the once-idyllic country of 800,000 people that has become increasingly unstable and poor after four coups in the past 20 years.
The changes have drawn international condemnation with the United States calling for a return to democracy.
“The United States is deeply disappointed by the collapse of Fiji’s political dialogue process and the abrogation of Fiji’s constitution, which we see as movement away from the goal of returning Fiji to democratic governance and its formerly leading role in the Pacific,” State Department spokesman Richard Aker said in a statement.
Shortly after being sworn in by Iloilo, Bainimarama maintained today that he had not advised Iloilo to overturn the country’s Constitution — a view that had spread rapidly when the military commander stood down after the court ruling.
Iloilo said in the emergency decree that the state could stop any broadcast or publication that it deemed “could cause disorder.”