Fiji military chief appoints interim cabinet

Suva, Jan 8: Fiji's military-led administration named an interim cabinet today and foreshadowed electoral reform but gave no indication when new polls might be held, more than a month after a bloodless coup.

Military chief Commander Frank Bainimarama, sworn in last week as interim Prime Minister, announced the appointment of the first eight ministers in a cabinet dominated by former military figures and opposition party members.

Bainimarama overthrew Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase and his indigenous Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua party-led government on December 5, six months after it was re-elected to a second five-year term. It was Fiji's fourth coup in 20 years.

He accused Qarase's government of corruption, racism and being too soft on those behind the South Pacific nation's previous coup in 2000. The state of emergency Bainimarama declared in December remains in place.

The first eight cabinet members were sworn in by ageing and ailing President Ratu Josefa Iloilo, whose largely ceremonial powers Bainimarama had assumed amid a purge of senior public officials before Iloilo was reinstated last week.

Interim Justice Minister and Attorney General Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum said electoral reform was among his main priorities.

''We need to move forward and in order to have elections, truly democratic elections, we need to have electoral reform,'' Khaiyum told reporters.

''I think we've got to put aside personal differences, we've got to move ahead with a lot of dignity, with a lot of professionalism rather than mud-slinging,'' he said.

FOREIGN MINISTER

Ratu Epeli Nailatikau, a former head of the military and speaker of parliament, was named foreign minister.

Viliame Naupoto, a senior officer in Fiji's small navy, was appointed interim immigration minister.

Jona Baravilala Senilagakali, a former military doctor and Methodist lay preacher who Bainimarama had briefly installed as interim premier, became health minister.

Poseci Bune, deputy leader of the Fiji Labour Party (FLP) which was narrowly beaten by Qarase's SDL in last May's elections, was named public service minister.

Two members of the National Alliance, which failed to win a seat at the election, were also given cabinet posts.

Qarase said he had been told FLP leader Mahendra Chaudhry had been offered the finance ministry.

''That is one position he has always wanted to take and I am not surprised,'' Qarase told Fiji radio.

''These appointments now confirm what we have always believed, that the Fiji Labour Party, the New Alliance party ... and a few other agencies were behind the overthrow of the SDL-led government,'' he said.

More interim cabinet posts were expected to be announced tomorrow.

Qarase's overthrow brought international condemnation, with Australia, New Zealand, Britain and the United States imposing economic and defence sanctions.

A former British colony, Fiji had its Commonwealth membership suspended, just as it did after similar upheavals in 1987 and again in 2000.

Bainimarama and Iloilo have proposed amnesties from prosecution for all those involved in the coup, while Qarase has said Fiji is slipping towards military dictatorship.

REUTERS

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