Word: ratu
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...military strongman seized control hours after Governor-General Ratu Sir Penaia Ganilau, who represents Queen Elizabeth II in the former British colony, announced an interim solution to the Pacific island chain's political problems. Ganilau proposed a caretaker government consisting of all major political groups pending new elections. But Rabuka said he would accept nothing less than permanent political control by ethnic Fijians, who constitute 47% of the population while ethnic Indians make...
...against a backdrop of confusion over who exactly was in control in the islands. Early in the week army officers freed deposed Prime Minister Timoci Bavadra and the 27 members of his government. The release was part of a careful plan negotiated between Rabuka and Fiji's Governor-General, Ratu Sir Penaia Ganilau, who is an independent Commonwealth official representing Queen Elizabeth II. Ganilau had stood firm against the coup, declaring a state of emergency and ordering the troops to return to their barracks. When they refused, he began negotiations with Rabuka, who had appointed himself chairman of the Council...
...largest group on the islands, much to the chagrin of the indigenous Fijians, who make up 47% of the island nation's 715,000 people. Since Fiji gained independence from Britain in 1970, racial tensions had been held in check by the government of Prime Minister Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara. But in April -- with the support of Indians and both poorer and educated young Fijians attracted by his left-leaning coalition's pro-labor platform -- Bavadra, an ethnic Fijian, and his Indian-dominated party came to power...
...week's end, when Indian shopkeepers and workers went on strike to protest the coup, Rabuka abolished trade unions. He simply ignored the Governor General, Ratu Sir Penaia Ganilau, the representative of Queen Elizabeth as Fiji's head of state, who declared a state of emergency to meet an "unprecedented situation which must not be allowed to continue...