Ousted Fiji PM still popular

Fiji's military ruler says the Prime Minister he ousted in a coup three years ago, Laisenia Qarase, would be returned to power if democratic elections were held tomorrow.

In a television interview screened by Australian public broadcaster SBS on Saturday, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, Fiji's self-appointed Prime Minister, said: "We're trying to change the mindset of the people from racial issues that developed in the last 10 years to what we want to take Fiji to - equal suffrage."

He said he wanted Mr Qarase and his politics to be irrelevant - "I want him out".