A Military Man Takes Charge in Fiji

Commander Voreqe "Frank" Bainimarama, the top military man of the idyllic island nation of Fiji, is haunted by the memory of the day in 2000 when 30 of his own disgruntled soldiers came to kill him in his office at Queen Elizabeth Barracks in the capital of Suva. The military chief escaped the black-clad invaders and their gunfire, but he lost face as his flight was captured by video cameras. The would-be military assassins were allies of the men who had tried to overthrow the government the same year. During the past six years, Bainimarama has neither forgotten nor forgiven the actions of the rebel soldiers or the leaders of the coup.

Now Bainimarama has become a coup leader himself. This week he overthrew the South Pacific nation's lawfully elected government of Laisenia Qarase. It is Fiji's fourth coup in two decades. Before he took the final step, declaring himself president, the military man had thundered for months against the government's move to grant amnesty to the 2000 coup plotters. Bainimarama's talk became more strident in recent days, as the military tightened its grip on security personnel, the bureaucracy and the country's media.

Bainimarama declared a state of emergency on Wednesday in Fiji. Without a shot being fired, he dissolved Parliament, dismissed the acting police chief, appointed a new prime minister and made himself president. "We have reasonable grounds to believe that the life of the state is being threatened," Bainimarama said. "Should we be pushed to use force, let me state that we will do so very quickly."

On Tuesday it appeared as if Prime Minister Qarase might be able to defy his nemesis Bainimarama. Holed up in his official residence in the suburb of Domain in the hills above the capital of Suva, Qarase seemed undaunted as he conducted media interviews and gave orders to his cabinet by cell phone. But by late afternoon, Bainimarama had named himself as president and declared he had taken control of the government.

By Wednesday Qarase's defiance was over. Slipping out of his house at 5 a.m., the deposed prime minister was flown to his home island of Vanua Balavu Island, about 175 miles away. A few hours later he told Australian ABC radio that Fijians would stage protests: "We want to live under the rule of law, and we are fed up with illegal takeovers in our country." After dissolving Parliament, however, Bainimarama told reporters: "Qarase and his cronies are not coming back." Bainimarama added: "Should we be pushed to use force, let me state that we will do so very quickly,"