Fiji: Bainimarama Flexes Muscles, Limits Freedoms

By Larry Habegger | Permalink | No Comments | April 15th, 2009 | Trackback

Fiji’s Court of Appeals ruled that the government of Commodore Frank Bainimarama, who seized power in a 2006 coup, is illegal. He responded by imposing a state of emergency, abolishing the constitution, firing all judges, expelling foreign journalists, posting censors in domestic newsrooms and cracking down on internet use. He said he would hold elections in 2014 after rewriting the constitution. The Reserve Bank of Fiji then devalued the currency by 20 percent in an effort to boost tourism and help exporters. Whether these moves spark unrest remains to be seen, but they have added to a growing political isolation for the South Pacific nation.

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