International pressure mounted on Fiji's military-led government yesterday to lift a new round of emergency rule, declared by the coup leader in response to what he called destabilization efforts by an ousted prime minister.
The EU, the Commonwealth, the US and New Zealand condemned the month-long state of emergency imposed on Thursday by the self-declared interim prime minister, Commodore Frank Bainimarama.
"It is not apparent which threats to national security, public order and safety exist to justify such a drastic measure as bringing back the Public Emergency Regulations," the EU said.
Under the latest measures, the military regime has the right to detain Fijians without charge. Public meetings are only allowed with formal police approval and street marches are banned.
Fiji's political situation was set to be on the Council of the EU's agenda at a meeting in Brussels yesterday, it said in a statement.
Bainimarama -- who seized power in a bloodless coup last Dec. 5 -- said the latest emergency measures were needed to counter efforts by ousted Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase and others from his indigenous Fijian-dominated Soqosoqo Duavata Ni Lewenivanua party.
Bainimarama accused them on Thursday of "spreading lies" after Qarase returned last weekend to Suva following more than eight months in self-imposed exile on his home island, Vanuabalavu.
The military chief rejected Qarase's offer to work with Bainimarama's government. Despite the reconciliatory gesture, Qarase also initiated court action seeking to declare Bainimarama's government illegal.
Fiji military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Mosese Tikoitoga said Qarase had "gone beyond the limits of free speech" and was inciting instability with his claims of death threats and harassment by military forces.
The decision to impose a state of emergency had been made "to ensure public law and order is maintained," Tikoitoga told New Zealand's National Radio.
Several countries have reacted unfavorably to Bainimarama's move.
The US said his actions cast doubt on the military's commitment to restore human rights, civil liberties and democratic rule in Fiji, and on its "willingness to work with the Pacific Islands Forum and the rest of the international community in organizing new elections."
"We have consistently called on the interim government to take meaningful steps to respect human rights and civil liberties, withdraw the military completely from government and hold new elections as quickly as possible," the US Embassy in Suva said in a statement.
New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters' advice to Bainimarama was blunt: "Pick your soldiers up and go back to the barracks and stop embarrassing Fiji and the Pacific."
With much pomp and circumstance, Cairo is today to inaugurate the long-awaited Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), widely presented as the crowning jewel on authorities’ efforts to overhaul the country’s vital tourism industry. With a panoramic view of the Giza pyramids plateau, the museum houses thousands of artifacts spanning more than 5,000 years of Egyptian antiquity at a whopping cost of more than US$1 billion. More than two decades in the making, the ultra-modern museum anticipates 5 million visitors annually, with never-before-seen relics on display. In the run-up to the grand opening, Egyptian media and official statements have hailed the “historic moment,” describing the
‘CHILD PORNOGRAPHY’: The doll on Shein’s Web site measure about 80cm in height, and it was holding a teddy bear in a photo published by a daily newspaper France’s anti-fraud unit on Saturday said it had reported Asian e-commerce giant Shein (希音) for selling what it described as “sex dolls with a childlike appearance.” The French Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) said in a statement that the “description and categorization” of the items on Shein’s Web site “make it difficult to doubt the child pornography nature of the content.” Shortly after the statement, Shein announced that the dolls in question had been withdrawn from its platform and that it had launched an internal inquiry. On its Web site, Le Parisien daily published a
China’s Shenzhou-20 crewed spacecraft has delayed its return mission to Earth after the vessel was possibly hit by tiny bits of space debris, the country’s human spaceflight agency said yesterday, an unusual situation that could disrupt the operation of the country’s space station Tiangong. An impact analysis and risk assessment are underway, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said in a statement, without providing a new schedule for the return mission, which was originally set to land in northern China yesterday. The delay highlights the danger to space travel posed by increasing amounts of debris, such as discarded launch vehicles or vessel
RUBBER STAMP? The latest legislative session was the most productive in the number of bills passed, but critics attributed it to a lack of dissenting voices On their last day at work, Hong Kong’s lawmakers — the first batch chosen under Beijing’s mantra of “patriots administering Hong Kong” — posed for group pictures, celebrating a job well done after four years of opposition-free politics. However, despite their smiles, about one-third of the Legislative Council will not seek another term in next month’s election, with the self-described non-establishment figure Tik Chi-yuen (狄志遠) being among those bowing out. “It used to be that [the legislature] had the benefit of free expression... Now it is more uniform. There are multiple voices, but they are not diverse enough,” Tik said, comparing it
RSS