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Fiji Army Warns Against Uprising, Appoints Interim PM    [

    Fiji Imposes State of Emergency
    BBC News

    Wednesday 06 December 2006

    A state of emergency has been declared on the South Pacific island state of Fiji, as the military tightens its grip a day after a bloodless coup.

    The army has dissolved parliament, sworn in a caretaker prime minister and sacked Fiji's acting police chief.

    "The military will suppress very quickly any uprising against us," said coup leader Cmdr Frank Bainimarama.

    The coup, the fourth in two decades in the Fijian archipelago, was condemned by the international community.

    The UN secretary general has demanded that the government be restored and the UK, the US and New Zealand have suspended aid.

    The BBC's Phil Mercer in Suva says that a state of emergency will give military chief Cmdr Bainimarama the right to impose curfews, multiply checkpoints and call on army reservists.

    Disruption "Threat"

    Deposed Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase has called on Fijians peacefully to oppose the coup.

    "I believe there will be a peaceful reaction by thousands and thousands in the next few days," Mr Qarase told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation before leaving for his home village on the remote Lau islands, at the request of the military.

    Despite being banished, he has insisted he remains Fiji's legitimate leader.

    Jona Senilaga'ali, a doctor with no political background, was sworn in as interim prime minister at a ceremony in the capital, Suva, on Wednesday.

    Cmdr Bainimarama said the military wanted a peaceful transition of power to an interim administration.

    He said he had declared a state of emergency after intelligence reports suggested some people were planning civil disruption.

    Lt Col Jim Koroi was appointed as acting police commissioner after the incumbent, Moses Driver, was sacked. He had refused to take orders from the new regime.

    "For those who do not agree with what we are doing, we respect your opinion, but do not interfere with the process that is currently under way," Cmdr Bainimarama said in a national broadcast.

    "There is no point in debating the legality or otherwise of our actions. Qarase and his cronies are not coming back."

    Cmdr Bainimarama said that next week he would ask the Great Council of Chiefs to restore executive powers to President Ratu Josefa Iloilo.

    The president would then appoint an interim government and elections would follow at an unspecified date, the military chief said.

    Urging Fijians to carry on life as normal, he added: "If we are pushed to use force we will do so. The military is staying the course we have set."

    Media Control

    Scores of protesters gathered outside the deposed prime minister's home in the capital, praying and singing hymns under the eye of the soldiers.

    Cmdr Bainimarama has accused the prime minister of corruption and leading Fiji on a path of doom.

    The two have long been in dispute, largely over the commodore's opposition to a proposed amnesty for those responsible for a 2000 coup he helped put down.

    Soldiers have been stationed around local media offices to ensure that no statements by the deposed prime minister were broadcast, Reuters reports.

    Our correspondent says that despite the coup and the increased presence of soldiers and checkpoints, the situation is calm.

    International pressure on the military rulers is growing, with the Commonwealth nations saying suspension from the group is highly likely.

    Australia's Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has urged the people of Fiji to "show passive resistance to this imposition of dictatorship on their country".

    New Zealand has suspended aid to Fiji, broken off sporting contacts and banned all members of the Fijian military from entering the country.

    Fiji has a population of only 900,000 but is a major tourist destination and attracts up to 400,000 visitors a year.

    It has also witnessed considerable political tension over the past 20 years between ethnic Fijians, who make up about 50% of the population and ethnic Indians at around 44%.

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    Fiji Army Warns Against Uprising, Appoints Interim PM
    Reuters

    Wednesday 06 December 2006

    Suva - Fijian troops will quickly suppress any uprising, the military chief warned on Wednesday as the country's deposed prime minister called for non-violent protests after the South Pacific nation's fourth coup in 20 years.

    Opponents of Tuesday's bloodless coup by Commander Frank Bainimarama were gradually rounded up. Armed troops surrounded the parliament and interrupted senators as they debated a motion condemning the toppling of Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase.

    "We have reasonable grounds to believe that the life of the state is being threatened," Bainimarama said as he proclaimed a state of emergency and dissolved parliament.

    "Should we be pushed to use force, let me state that we will do so very quickly," he told reporters, adding that "Qarase and his cronies are not coming back."

    Bainimarama's coup, which has drawn outrage abroad, came after a year-long power struggle with the mild-mannered Qarase, whom he accuses of corruption and being too soft on those behind Fiji's last coup in 2000.

    Bainimarama said the planned appointment of a caretaker government "is now put on hold" because the Great Council of Chiefs, the influential group of tribal leaders 'ho appoint the president, said they had canceled a scheduled meeting next week amid growing opposition to the coup.

    Military doctor Jona Baravilala Senilagakali, a Methodist lay preacher and political novice, was sworn in as caretaker prime minister at military headquarters.

    "I work for the army. I'm obliged to do whatever my commander tells me to do," Baravilala told reporters. He gave no timetable for fresh elections.

    Qarase was taken by soldiers before sunrise and flown back to his home island in Fiji's remote east.

    Re-elected for a second term in May, Qarase has called for Fijians to stand up for democracy and expects non-violent demonstrations within days. Hundreds of Fijians rallied outside his Suva home as the coup played out on Tuesday.

    "My assessment is that about 99 percent of our population wants democracy," he told Australian radio, adding that the will of the people "is stronger than the power of the gun."

    Australia and New Zealand have called for people power to restore democracy to Fiji.

    "I think the ordinary people of Fiji and the institutions of government in Fiji should show passive resistance to this imposition of dictatorship on their country," Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer told his parliament.

    As domestic and international support swung behind Qarase, soldiers began detaining key public servants, including the acting police commissioner, the speaker of the parliament and Qarase's private secretary.

    Judges met despite the military round-up and vowed that courts would remain open and that the rule of law must be upheld.

    The coup has been condemned around the world and is expected to have catastrophic effects on Fiji's delicate economy, based on tourism and an outdated sugar industry, just as Fiji's three earlier coups had.

    Fiji's central bank tightened foreign exchange controls on Wednesday in fear of a currency run. It said in a statement the measures were necessary "to ensure that reserves are safeguarded under the current circumstances."

    "Coup Culture"

    In scenes reminiscent of the 2000 coup, senators sat in the unique wooden parliament chamber with its steeply pitched roof as soldiers gathered outside.

    "There is a coup culture which pervades this land," said Senator Tupeni Baba, the deputy prime minister deposed in the May 2000 coup by armed indigenous nationalists, before soldiers asked for the sitting to end.

    The military eased a crackdown on media reporting as other leading politicians condemned the coup, including Fiji's first Indian prime minister, Mahendra Chaudhry, who was held hostage for 56 days in the 2000 coup.

    Australia and New Zealand imposed sanctions on Fiji's military and the United States suspended aid. Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon said foreign ministers from the 53-nation organization were likely to suspend Fiji on Friday.