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Court declares Fiji's military government illegal
By PITA LIGAIULA,Associated Press Writer AP - Friday, April 10
SUVA, Fiji - A court in coup-plagued Fiji declared the military government illegal Thursday and said the president should immediately appoint an interim leader to oversee a return to democracy.
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Military ruler Commodore Frank Bainimarama responded by saying he was relinquishing his post as self-appointed prime minister but would continue as the country's military leader and return his troops to their barracks.
"The ruling of the Court of Appeal and its refusal to grant a stay pending the appeal means, in practical terms, that we effectively do not now have a prime minister or any ministers of the state," he said in a televised address to the nation.
"In other words, we do not have a government in place," Bainimarama said.
Flanked by two senior naval officers, he assured citizens that the security forces would ensure there would be no disruption of law and order.
The Fiji Court of Appeal, the South Pacific nation's second-highest court, was ruling on a challenge to Bainimarama's rule brought by ousted Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase.
A three-judge panel said the military chief's government had come to power illegally and the "only appropriate course of action at the present time is for elections to be held to enable Fiji to get a fresh start."
The court recommended President Ratu Josefa Iloilo appoint "a distinguished person" as interim prime minister who would dissolve Parliament and call elections.
"This will enable Fiji to be restored to democratic rule in accordance with the Fiji Constitution," the judges said.
Thursday's decision overturned a High Court ruling last October that Iloilo acted legally when he authorized a transition of power to Bainimarama.
Bainimarama seized power in 2006, in the country's fourth coup in 20 years, after months of bickering with Qarase, whom he accused of discriminating in favor of indigenous Fijians who were his power base.
After the coup, Bainimarama convinced Iloilo to formally install his government to prevent further instability _ a move Bainimarama says made his government legitimate.
He has long promised to call elections to restore democracy, but has defied international pressure and sanctions to do so quickly.
In his address, the military chief said he had visited the president to inform him of the court ruling and its practical implications.
"I understand his excellency shall inform us of his decision soon," he said.
Bainimarama had faced a May 1 deadline to name an election date or face automatic suspension from the Pacific Islands Forum, a regional trade and diplomatic bloc.
In the Obama administration's first comments on Fiji, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Tuesday that Fiji should abide by the forum's timetable.
"We share a common determination that democracy must not be extinguished there," Clinton said during a joint appearance in Washington with New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully.
Fiji's tourism and sugar-dependent economy has plunged since the coup, sending more of the nation's 800,000 people into poverty.
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