Fiji's coup leader yesterday returned executive authority to the nation's former president but appeared set to retain effective power by moving to become interim prime minister.
Military commander Voreqe Bainimarama returned the presidency to Ratu Josefa Iloilo amid reports Bainimarama would be sworn in as interim prime minister today.
Military spokesman Major Neumi Leweni initially declined to comment on the reports. But after being told they came from the president's office he said: "If that's what the president's office says, it must be true."
Speaking after Bainimarama's announcement, restored President Ratu Josefa Iloilo swiftly endorsed last month's coup. He also said an incoming government would offer legal immunity to the military.
Iloilo said he would soon name an interim government to take Fiji through to general elections. But these would only be held when "political and economic conditions are conducive."
Bainimarama confirmed at a press conference that Iloilo would be restored to power and that caretaker prime minister Jona Senilagakali had resigned earlier yesterday to clear the way for an interim government to be named.
"I now hand over executive authority to the president. God Bless Fiji," he said.
Bainimarama appealed to Fijians and the international community -- which condemned the coup and imposed sanctions -- to support the South Pacific nation following the transfer of authority.
Iloilo, speaking for the first time since losing power in the bloodless Dec. 5 coup, said he backed the putsch that ousted prime minister Laisenia Qarase's government.
"Therefore I fully endorse the actions of the commander in acting in the interests of the nation and most importantly in upholding the constitution," Iloilo said in an address to the nation.
A long-time ally of Bainimarama, he said an interim government would "facilitate all legal protections" for the military chief and the rest of the armed forces over the putsch.
The 86-year-old president also said he had been prevented from exercising his authority in the runup to Qarase's overthrow, although he refused to elaborate.
Iloilo backed Bainimarama in his long-running dispute with the former government, which the military chief said was corrupt, adopted racist policies against the country's ethnic Indian minority and was soft on plotters of a coup in 2000.
The president said the time had come to "enforce a genuine democracy" in a "Fiji-based solution."
"I will therefore, shortly after consultation with capable people, announce an interim government to take us smoothly to the next elections," he said.
The president's role is primarily symbolic in the country of 900,000 with the real power residing with the prime minister and Cabinet.
Last month, the military advertised in Fiji's newspapers for applicants interested in joining an interim Cabinet, and it has been sifting through the applications.
Through the noise of rushing papers and whirring belts at a print factory in Kyoto, two creators watch their photo essay come to life in broadsheet form — part of an effort to win new audiences in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). Despite the decline of the publishing industry, self-publication and handmade “zine” magazines are growing in popularity in Japan, reflecting the nation’s enduring love of paper in the digital era. While speaking to Agence France-Presse at the plant, his hands black with ink, one of the creators, Kazuma Obara, said: “I think [paper] is a medium that engages all five
‘ABSURD MISTAKE’: The election commission said that there had been a failure to anticipate turnout after 14 polling stations ran short of ballot papers South Korean riot police yesterday cleared protesters from a Seoul polling station after a 35-hour blockade sparked by a shortage of ballot papers during local elections earlier this week. Wednesday’s election was the first nationwide vote since South Korean President Lee Jae-myung took office following the ouster of Yoon Suk-yeol over his short-lived martial law declaration. Lee’s ruling Democratic Party swept most races, but failed to flip the crucial Seoul mayoral seat. The South Korean National Election Commission apologized, blaming a failure to anticipate turnout after 14 polling stations in Seoul ran short of ballot papers. Some polling stations stayed open until 10pm to
Australian researchers have trained lab-grown brain cells on a silicon computer chip to play the 1990s shooter game Doom and said they are just scratching the surface of what the neurons could be capable of doing. It is the science-fiction work of biotech boffins at Cortical Labs, who researched and developed the technology that harnesses the workings of the brain’s networking system. Each so-called “biological computer” contains about 200,000 living human brain cells, grown from stem cells that were harvested from blood donations. Having mastered the simple computer game Pong, where a paddle is moved up and down to send a ball
France experienced its hottest spring on record, the French weather service said on Tuesday, after an exceptional early heat wave that also broke highs for the season in England and Wales. Meteo-France said the average nationwide temperature over March to May was 13.8°C — about 1.7°C above the norm, and surpassing records set in 2011 and 2020. “The warmest spring since records began in 1900,” it said in a bulletin. All three months were warmer than average, but the onset of an “unprecedented heatwave” late last month pushed the mercury to highs typically seen at the height of the summer. “Our country had never
RSS