Fiji's military-led government said it will lift a monthlong state of emergency today after it found no threat to the stability of the Pacific island nation.
Emergency rule was imposed last month after the military regime claimed ousted Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase was seeking to destabilize Fiji after he returned to the capital Suva from self-imposed exile. Qarase was deposed in a coup by military commander Commodore Frank Bainimarama on Dec. 5 of last year.
"The military is confident and we want to inform the public of Fiji that we do not see any threat to the nation or its people," military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Mosese Tikoitoga said yesterday. "There is no reason why we should keep or prolong [the emergency measures]."
The EU, the Commonwealth, the US, Australia and New Zealand have all condemned the imposition of emergency measures.
The EU, a major aid donor, said it could see no reason for Bainimarama to take such a drastic measure, and warned the move could violate the terms of an aid deal it struck with Fiji in April.
Fiji's interim government first lifted emergency measures imposed after the bloodless coup in May, in return for about US$247 million in European aid.
Bainimarama said the measures imposed last month were needed to counter destabilization efforts by Qarase and others from his indigenous Fijian-dominated Soqosoqo Duavata Ni Lewenivanua party.
Under the measures, the military regime had the right to detain Fijians without charge. Public meetings were only allowed with formal police approval and street marches and other public protests were banned.
Qarase returned to Suva to pursue court action to show Bainimarama's coup and subsequent government were illegal.
Tikoitoga said the military council felt that talk of instability "was nothing but rumors."
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