Fiji trade unions welcome High Court ruling

2:00 PM

SUVA – Trade unions in Fiji have welcomed yesterday's ruling by the High Court that ordered the reinstatement of Mahendra Chaudhry's pre-coup government.

Fiji's Daily Post newspaper quotes Trades Union Congress acting national secretary Diwan Shankar as saying the decision by High Court Judge Anthony Gates should enable the country to move ahead.

He said it would allow the Fiji military, the Great Council of Chiefs, political parties and other organisations to end the disruptions that have plagued the country since the May 19 coup lead by George Speight.

Reverend Akuila Yabaki of the Citizens Constitutional Forum told the newspaper that the interim government should resign and make way for the formation of a government by the political parties elected in the last parliament.

The Fiji military, which installed the interim government, said it respected the High Court decision, but would await the outcome of an appeal to be lodged by the interim Attorney-General.

"We respect the High Court's decision," military commander Frank Bainimarama said in a statement, but added: "The decision is only the first step in the legal process."

Justice Gates said in his ruling that the post-coup government headed by Laisenia Qarase was unconstitutional and called on deposed President Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara to recall parliament and reinstate Chaudhry.

Qarase said he would continue to rule Fiji with the aim of securing the safety of citizens, rehabilitating the battered economy and working towards an eventual return to democracy.

"The interim government will continue as the national government and legislative authority in Fiji," he said.

Chaudhry welcomed the ruling and urged post-coup authorities to recall parliament and return Fiji to democracy.

"The (Chaudhry government) coalition urges the authorities to abide by the high court ruling and to recall parliament so that Fiji is back to democratic rule," he said in a statement.

Analysts said that without military backing the ruling was only a moral victory for Chaudhry, Fiji's first ethnic Indian leader who was toppled in the May coup lead by George Speight.

"In real political terms there is no evidence that the legal solution will matter very much," Suva-based University of South Pacific associate professor Scott MacWilliam said.

"Fiji now has a government that is dependent entirely on military support. It cannot rule in any other means."

Appealing for calm from the community in the wake of the ruling, Bainimarama noted that Gates had invited the military "to ensure the smooth and amicable handover of government."

"We do not wish to pre-empt the decision of the Court of Appeal or interfere in the judicial process and we will not engage in speculative actions in the meanwhile," he said.

Qarase, who has said he will rule for the next 18 months before fresh elections can be held, said he drew authority from the military-backed President Ratu Josefa Iloilo and Fiji's traditional power base, the Great Council of Chiefs.

His government was committed to a new constitution to "secure the future of indigenous Fijians" after the chiefs withdrew their endorsement of the 1997 multi-racial constitution.

Gates said the abrogation of the 1997 constitution, under which Chaudhry became Prime Minister, was wrong and that the make-up of Fiji's multi-racial parliament was still intact.

"The George Speight coup was unsuccessful in its attempt to overthrow the democratically elected government of Mahendra Chaudhry," Gates said.

The high court ruling stems from a case by an Indian-Fijian who was displaced by the coup and forced to live in a refugee camp. There are a series of individual cases pending which challenge Fiji's the post-coup administration.

- HERALD ONLINE STAFF and REUTERS