Word: fiji
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...Commodore Voreqe "Frank" Bainimarama, the decision to remove the government of Laisenia Qarase in a coup on Dec. 5 was painful but simple. "The racist policies of the past," he says, sipping coffee in his office at the Republic of Fiji Military Force Strategic HQ in Suva, "would have taken us to hell-and we would never have come back." For many observers in the outside world, most vocally Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, Bainimarama's actions were an unacceptable interference in the democratic process, but the armed forces chief and now interim Prime Minister is unrepentant. "If you want...
...Bainimarama says entrenched corruption, race-based policies that favored the 51% of Fiji's population who are indigenous, and runaway crime drove his intervention. He rejects Downer's suggestion that he has acquired a taste for power as "the height of insensitivity and arrogance," saying he didn't want to be Prime Minister, and accepted the position only at the urging of his military council. "I hate this job," he says, "but it has to be done. And we are going to stay until we complete this business...
...Evanson had invited to the island. Evanson, a former bond trader in the U.S., denies there was any attempt to influence Bainimarama through the provision of a holiday. He invites people like Bainimarama to his island "because I'm trying to promote good relationship with the people who run Fiji," he says. "I had no lengthy private conversations with the commander on the island. [Bainimarama and McCain] were on holiday but they did meet lots of times. We are set up at the island [so that] all the guests eat at the same table for breakfast, lunch and dinner...
...elections in May this year, Evanson backed one of Bainimarama's associates, Ratu Epeli Ganilau, to run for government. Ganilau is a former military commander who successfully recommended Bainimarama to succeed him as head of Fiji's armed forces when he stepped down in 1999. Evanson declines to reveal how much he donated to Ganilau's National Alliance Party to run against the Qarase government, but some observers say it was a substantial sum in Fijian campaign funding. Ganilau's election bid failed, but he has remained influential in military affairs, telling TIME he has recently been advising Bainimarama...
...Earlier this month Ganilau told the Fiji Times that the coup was inspired by the Qarase government's divisive bills, particularly the Qoliqoli Bill and the Lands Tribunal Bill. "The long impasse has propelled the military," he said. "It [the coup] is an illegal act, but the lesser of two evils when you think about the endemic corruption and bad practices that have carried on during the reign of the former administration. I support the cleaning up, but not the means...