Fiji's leader ousted as military seizes control*

By Nick Squires in Suva
Last Updated: 1:42am GMT 06/12/2006

After spending all day a virtual prisoner in his own home, surrounded by
renegade soldiers, the prime minister of Fiji was summarily dismissed
yesterday by the country's maverick military commander.

Months of tension between the military and the democratically elected
government of Laisenia Qarase finally reached a climax, with Commodore
Frank Bainimarama announcing that he had seized control in the South
Pacific nation's fourth military coup since 1987.

"As of six o'clock this evening, the military has taken over the
government, has executive authority and the running of this country," he
said in a televised address from a barracks in the capital, Suva.

Wearing a crisp khaki uniform and black beret, the career sailor pledged
to hold democratic national elections, without specifying when.

Britain had suspended military aid to Fiji in response to the coup, a
Downing Street spokesman said. Fiji gained independence in 1970 after 96
years of British rule.

Australia and New Zealand said they would impose sanctions on Fiji's
military and the interim government. John Howard, the Australian prime
minister, described the coup as "a tragic setback for democracy in Fiji".

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Fijian soldiers arrive outside the prime minister’s residence in. They
put up roadblocks, effectively placing Mr Qarase under house arrest

New Zealand will seek Fiji's expulsion from the Commonwealth and Helen
Clark, the prime minister, described the takeover as an outrage.

"[Bainimarama] called on people not to break the law — the military
commander has just ripped up Fiji's constitution and chucked it out the
window…history will be his judge," she said.

Cdre Bainimarama also promised Fijians that they had nothing to fear
from the heavily armed soldiers who had set up dozens of roadblocks
around Suva and other towns.

He said he had been forced to act with "great reluctance" because Mr
Qarase had refused to accede to his demands that controversial
legislation be dumped and allegedly corrupt ministers dismissed. Six
years ago Cdre Bainimarama was credited with rescuing the nation from
chaos when he brokered a peaceful resolution to the last coup, led by a
failed businessman, George Speight.

That reputation is now in tatters, after leading the kind of putsch
which earned Speight worldwide condemnation and life imprisonment on a
lonely island off Suva.

"It is hard to believe that the man who stood up for the rule of law in
2000 is today its main threat," the Fiji Times said on Monday.

The paper said it would not publish today because the military had
demanded that it be allowed to vet all stories. Fijian television
suspended its evening news programmes for the same reason. Mr Qarase
said that he had been deposed illegally and the coup had made Fiji "a
laughing stock".

Cdre Bainimarama and Mr Qarase have been at loggerheads for months over
land rights legislation, which the commodore claimed would unfairly
discriminate against the Indo-Fijian minority, and a law which would
pardon those involved in the 2000 coup.

Fiji's police commissioner, Andrew Hughes, an Australian, said he
believed that the coup would spark a popular uprising that he hoped
would be non-violent. "He doesn't have the support of the government, of
the president, of the police, of the churches, or the chiefs, or the
people of Fiji," Mr Hughes said.

Fiji's previous coups were partly motivated by fears among indigenous
Fijians that they were losing control of the country to Indo-Fijians,
the descendants of 19th century cane farmers recruited by the British
colonial authorities. Yesterday's coup perplexed Fijians. "It's so sad,"
said an Indo-Fijian woman as she was jostled by soldiers outside the
prime minister's house.

"This is Fiji, for God's sake. We don't want our kids to see all these
big bullies walking around with their guns." Moses Cakau, 40, an ethnic
Fijian minibus driver, said: "We want the Australian military to come
in. Bring in the SAS, the helicopters, the ships. They should shoot the
Fijian soldiers who have supported the coup."

Jone Matavewa, 30, a computer technician, said: "This will bring great
shame on Fiji's reputation abroad."