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Caretaker Fiji PM set to appoint Cabinet
Fiji`s caretaker prime minister said on Friday that he would consider including members of the government ousted in a racially inspired coup in his Cabinet in the run-up to August elections.
Fiji's caretaker prime minister said on Friday
that he would consider including members of the government ousted in a racially inspired coup in his Cabinet in the run-up to August elections.
Laisenia Qarase told reporters that he would announce his Cabinet at 3 pm in Suva, the capital of the South Pacific nation of some 800,000 people.
Qarase, the leader of an interim administration installed after the May 2000 coup by nationalist rebels, has to find a way to resolve Fiji's political crisis after a court ruled on March 1 that his government was illegal.
The crisis began when indigenous Fijian rebels raided Parliament last year and took hostage Mahendra Chaudhry, Fiji's first ethnic Indian prime minister. The military quelled the rebellion but then appointed Qarase, an indigenous Fijian, as prime minister. Chaudhry's people's coalition insists that the Qarase administration is illegal and unconstitutional. Qarase said that he would consider including people's coalition members in his new caretaker cabinet after the ruling elite agreed this week to hold elections. ''I have not ruled out the opportunity,'' he said.
Qarase resigned and was promptly reinstated this week by President Ratu Josefa Iloilo in an apparent attempt to observe constitutional formalities after the court ruling. Chaudhry said in a statement, ''It is clear that (president) Ratu Josefa and his advisers never had any intention of acting within the bounds of the constitution or the rule of law.''
''Their undertaking to do so was a mere stage show to mislead the people of Fiji and the international community,'' he said.
Iloilo has stressed the need to avoid a repeat of the widespread violence against ethnic Indians which was sparked by last year's coup against Chaudhry.
Ethnic Indians make up 44 percent of the population and dominate the sugar and tourism based economy.
Qarase said that he would announce a Cabinet smaller than his 19-member interim inner circle. He said that he also planned to contest the elections in August.
Bureau Report
The crisis began when indigenous Fijian rebels raided Parliament last year and took hostage Mahendra Chaudhry, Fiji's first ethnic Indian prime minister. The military quelled the rebellion but then appointed Qarase, an indigenous Fijian, as prime minister. Chaudhry's people's coalition insists that the Qarase administration is illegal and unconstitutional. Qarase said that he would consider including people's coalition members in his new caretaker cabinet after the ruling elite agreed this week to hold elections. ''I have not ruled out the opportunity,'' he said.
Qarase resigned and was promptly reinstated this week by President Ratu Josefa Iloilo in an apparent attempt to observe constitutional formalities after the court ruling. Chaudhry said in a statement, ''It is clear that (president) Ratu Josefa and his advisers never had any intention of acting within the bounds of the constitution or the rule of law.''
''Their undertaking to do so was a mere stage show to mislead the people of Fiji and the international community,'' he said.
Iloilo has stressed the need to avoid a repeat of the widespread violence against ethnic Indians which was sparked by last year's coup against Chaudhry.
Ethnic Indians make up 44 percent of the population and dominate the sugar and tourism based economy.
Qarase said that he would announce a Cabinet smaller than his 19-member interim inner circle. He said that he also planned to contest the elections in August.
Bureau Report