FIJI: Fiji's military took over running the country in a bloodless overthrow yesterday after confining the prime minister to his home. It was the South Pacific island nation's fourth coup in 20 years.
Military commander Frank Bainimarama said he had temporarily stepped into president Ratu Josefa Iloilo's role as head of state and dismissed the government of Laisenia Qarase after a power struggle that had simmered all year.
Promising that the takeover would not be permanent, Cmdr Bainimarama said he had appointed little-known Jona Senilagakali Baravilala, a former military doctor and political novice, as interim prime minister before fresh elections were called.
"The stalemate has forced me to step forward and the military has taken over government," Cmdr Bainimarama said, adding that the chief executives of government ministries would run their departments until Mr Baravilala appointed an interim government.
Cmdr Bainimarama had repeatedly threatened to topple Mr Qarase's government, which won a second five-year term in May, calling it corrupt and too soft on those behind Fiji's last coup in 2000.
The three earlier coups, the first in 1987, were racially motivated with indigenous Fijians, who make up 51 per cent of the 900,000 population, fearing they would lose political control of their nation to minority ethnic Indian Fijians who already dominate the economy.
Mr Qarase told reporters he was still prime minister. "I have been removed illegally," he said by telephone from inside his home as soldiers blocked off the street outside. "Fiji has now become a laughing stock in the international arena."
Several hundred supporters gathered behind army barricades, singing hymns and praying.
Police commissioner Andrew Hughes, an Australian, thought Cmdr Bainimarama's 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 of the people of Fiji."
The military warned local media not to publish material critical of the military or run stories about Mr Qarase. At least two newspapers have suspended publication, while TV news programmes did not air last night.
Cmdr Bainimarama said Mr Baravilala would dissolve parliament and that he would surrender presidential powers back to Mr Iloilo next week. He gave no timetable for new elections.
Fiji's political crisis has alarmed its neighbours, with Australia sending three warships in case it needed to evacuate holidaying nationals. Cmdr Bainimarama has warned that his soldiers will oppose any foreign intervention.
Australian prime minister John Howard said Mr Qarase phoned him yesterday to seek help. "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," Mr Howard said.
New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark said Cmdr Bainimarama had taken "complete leave of his senses". Australia and New Zealand said they would impose sanctions on Fiji's military and New Zealand will seek Fiji's expulsion from the Commonwealth.
The latest coup is expected to severely damage Fiji's fragile sugar and tourism industries, with tourism bookings already falling.