SUVA, Fiji (2 Mar 2001) -- Suva, the capital city of Fiji remains calm after the Court of Appeal declared the army-backed government illegal and ordered it to give up power. The judges ruled that the interim government had not proved its right to rule and that Fiji's 1997 multi-ethnic constitution remains the supreme authority. Fiji's High Court ruled last November that the military-installed government is illegal and should step down but the interim administration vowed to fight the decision. Now Fiji's fate is in the hands of President Ratu Josefa Iloilo, an elderly statesman who said he would meet with the Great Council of Chiefs. The council is made up of indigenous leaders who were humiliated last year by racist rebel leader George Speight and failed to prevent the outbreak of the racial violence that crippled Fiji's tourist industry and devastated its economy. | | Military-installed government Ethnic Fijians resent the economic success of Indo-Fijians who are descendants of laborers brought it to work sugar plantations established by British colonialists. Ousted Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry, an Indo-Fijian, has said that the ruling meant he was still prime minister but many are calling for a new general election. © CDNN - CYBER DIVER NEWS NETWORK |
