With simmering ethnic tensions, coup was imminent

"We are disappointed that the democratic process in Fiji appears to have received a setback and we expect an immediate restoration of the legitimately elected government," a ministry spokesperson said.

However, the government’s statement abstained from ‘condemning’ the coup outright, nor did it have anything to say on record about the condition of High Commissioner I S Chauhan and his colleagues in the Indian mission in Suva, the capital.

Chauhan, who is a political appointee of the Vajpayee government – appointed just before the swearing-in of Mahendra Chaudhry, the first Fijian Prime Minister of Indian origin – was teaching in Benaras Hindu University before he was called to serve in Suva. Though phone lines are down in Suva, it is believed that the High Commission staff is safe.

Meanwhile, New Delhi is in touch with the Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon as well as other major Commonwealth countries, in an effort to lobby for the return of Chaudhry.

The MEA statement pointed to this initiative, saying that the Durban summit of the Commonwealth in November last year had renewed its commitment to the Commonwealth’s fundamental political values of democracy, human rights, the rule of law, independence of the judiciary and good governance.

Speaking to the BBC on Friday, McKinnon drew a comparison with the coup in Pakistan last year – which was suspended from the councils of the Commonwealth – and said he hoped that the Fijian government would be returned to its proper place soon.

Friday was supposed to have been a day of celebration for Mahendra Chaudhry, who hails from Rohtak, Haryana, to mark the first anniversary of his ascension to power. Instead, at about 10 a.m. local time, a group of men armed with AK-47 Kalashnikov rifles, dressed in shorts, walked into Parliament and took Chaudhry and seven of his Cabinet colleagues as hostages.

The armed group was led by George Speight, son of Opposition MP Sam Speight. He later told Fiji Radio that Chaudhry was safe, that he was taking charge of the country on behalf of the ‘indigenous people of Fiji’. He named Fijian Association Party MP Ratutimoci Silatolu as the interim Prime Minister. By the evening, Fiji’s president had declared an emergency in the country.

Analysts here say that there is one significant difference between the current coup and the one led by Colonel Sitiveni Rabuka in 1987, although the underlying reasons may be similar.

In the current situation, the army does not appear to have militarily intervened on behalf of George Speight, but remained neutral until the President declared emergency. In 1987, Rabuka had led the military to overthrow the then elected government.

Nevertheless, analysts point out, the unresolved ethnic tensions in the island – although the 51 per cent indigenous population owns most of the land, the 49 per cent people of Indian origin are far more powerful and controls the sugarcane-economy on the island – is tailor-made for continuing unrest.

The core question is over the control of land. Ethnic Indians, who came to the Pacific Ocean island in the 19th century as indentured labour on sugarcane farms, do not own the land, but have taken it on long lease from the indigenous population.

When Col. Rabuka amended his racially-written Constitution in 1997, one of the unwritten quid pro quos for Fiji’s return to the Commonwealth, was that the leases of the Indian tenants would be renewed.

That never happened, not even after Chaudhry became the PM. On the other hand, a number of his actions were seen as ‘pro-Indian’, leading to a number of protests and demonstrations in Suva in recent days. That, in turn, instigated Friday’s coup d`etat.