Word: fijian
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...first sign that something was afoot came at 4 p.m. last Friday, when armed troops invaded the offices of two newspapers and a commercial radio station in the Fijian capital of Suva. Within an hour, Army Commander Lieut. Colonel Sitiveni Rabuka then confirmed the flying rumors. His forces, he announced over the radio, had "reasserted their authority over the government." It was Rabuka's second coup in four months...
...brief time last week, it seemed as if paradise had been regained in the South Pacific archipelago of Fiji. Just ten days after Lieut. Colonel Sitiveni Rabuka marched into Parliament and arrested the recently elected government, a relaxed crowd of some 3,000 Fijians gathered outside the Civic Center in the capital city of Suva. People danced to pop tunes played by the Royal Fijian Armed Services band, which included in its program, appropriately, Bridge over Troubled Waters and Onward Christian Soldiers. When Lieut. Colonel Rabuka appeared, the band enthusiastically struck up the song...
...coup was staged by native Fijian officers who objected to last month's election victory by the coalition of Labor and National Federation parties, which is dominated by Fijians of Indian descent. Although native Fijians have controlled the government since the country's independence in 1970, they make up only 47% of the population. Indians, who arrived in the 19th century as sugarcane workers, now constitute...
...takeover, though, fueled rather than cooled ethnic tension. Early last week business in Suva was at a standstill after fearful Indian shopkeepers boarded up their stores with storm shutters and retreated to their homes. Army units patrolled the streets, keeping watch on loitering gangs of Fijian youths. Eventually, some 500 native Fijians gathered in the center of Suva and began to run riot. They swarmed through the city, wrecking the stalls of Indian traders. One group hauled Indian taxi drivers from their vehicles, beating them and breaking car windows. The mob then charged 1,000 Indians in a city park...
Insurrectionist Rabuka, who denied last week that he was motivated by personal ambition, quickly showed his ethnic sympathies. The 15 men he appointed to a Council of Ministers included a large majority of native Fijians and are expected to follow policies favoring Fijians. Mara is Rabuka's new Foreign Minister, and will drop Bavadra's nonaligned stance in favor of a pro-Western foreign policy. Rabuka is highly popular and faces little dissent from within the army, whose troops are 95% ethnic Fijian...