(PINA/IFEX) – On 30 May 2000, publication of Fiji’s three daily newspapers was delayed following the imposition of martial law and a military curfew. “The Fiji Times”, “Fiji’s Daily Post” and “The Fiji Sun” all said they planned to publish during the day. This following the new military government’s announcement that the curfew would now […]
(PINA/IFEX) – On 30 May 2000, publication of Fiji’s three daily newspapers was delayed following the imposition of martial law and a military curfew. “The Fiji Times”, “Fiji’s Daily Post” and “The Fiji Sun” all said they planned to publish during the day. This following the new military government’s announcement that the curfew would now be lifted from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. (local time). Stations of the state-owned Radio Fiji network (Radio Fiji One, Radio Fiji Two, and Bula network commercial stations) and non-government Communications Fiji Limited network (FM96, Navtarang and Viti FM) continued to broadcast hourly news bulletins as normal. News directors said there was no military censorship. Armed soldiers guarded the Radio Fiji building in downtown Suva. The national television service, Fiji Television, remained off the air after it was ransacked by a mob on 28 May.
On the evening of 29 May, Fiji Military Forces commander, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, said the military had taken over with “much reluctance”, Radio Fiji reported. It had done so because of the rapid breakdown in law and order and a stalemate in talks to try to end the continuing crisis, he said. The military government would move to restore “peace and stability” as early as possible, Bainimarama said. The president, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, has stepped aside, radio station FM96 reported. Radio Fiji said this followed an approach from senior military officers using traditional Fijian protocol. Armed soldiers now man roadblocks and checkpoints throughout the country, taking over from unarmed police.
The Fiji Military Forces moved in eleven days after the elected government of Mahendra Chaudhry was seized in an attempted coup by Suva businessman George Speight and armed gunmen, including some soldiers. The military takeover came amidst growing lawlessness, including a policeman being shot dead and Fiji TV ransacked and put off the air by a mob of what have been described as Speight supporters. Chaudhry and parliamentarians are still being held by Speight and his armed indigenous Fijian supporters at the parliamentary complex in suburban Suva.
On 27 May, Associated Press Television News cameraman Jerry Harmer was shot in the arm and wounded as he filmed a confrontation between Fiji Military Forces soldiers and armed Speight supporters near Fiji’s parliament in Suva. “The Australian” newspaper of 29 May reported that Harmer had been evacuated to Australia and taken to a hospital in Sydney. It said Harmer was a 38-year-old Briton who had been sent from Bangkok to cover the ongoing Fiji crisis.
The attempted coup by Speight and his indigenous Fijian supporters came amidst a march through Suva by indigenous Fijians protesting against what they said are threats to their indigenous rights and land ownership. Indigenous Fijians then looted and burned shops in downtown Suva owned by ethnic Indians. Speight and his men have continued to hold Chaudhry and some parliamentarians prisoners in the parliamentary complex. A state of emergency has been declared in the Fiji Islands.
Background Information
Chaudhry won power as Fiji’s first ethnic Indian prime minister in general elections held in May 1999. His Fiji Labour Party formed a coalition government which included some indigenous Fijian parties. The events of 19 May followed growing protests by some indigenous Fijians, who are concerned about the protection of indigenous rights and land.
Fiji’s ethnic Indians are mainly descendants of indentured plantation labourers brought from India by the British colonial government in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
In 1987, following widespread unrest and growing violence following the election of what was seen as an Indian-dominated government, Sitiveni Rabuka, then a colonel, led two coups by the army. Fiji returned to parliamentary government in elections in 1992, with Rabuka voted into power as a civilian prime minister. Chaudhry’s government was elected under a new multiracial constitution adopted in 1997.
