Fiji's military ruler accuses judges of trying to force him to callelections. But since the judiciary was dismissed and the constitutionwas scrapped by the government last week, the country's weak economyhas suffered more.
In his first interview with foreign mediasince a state of emergency was imposed last week, Fiji's armed forceschief Commodore Frank Bainimarama indicated that the three Court ofAppeal judges who ruled against him were biased against his government.
Thecourt ruled that his 2006 power grab was illegal, prompting Fiji'spresident, a close ally of Commodore Bainimarama, to scrap theconstitution and dismiss the entire judiciary.
This allowed forthe return of the military administration, which is now in a far morepowerful position than it has been since it ousted an elected primeminister in December 2006.
The media is being censored, foreigncorrespondents deported, and critics of Commodore Bainimarama have beenarrested or dismissed from their positions. The military has seizedcontrol of Fiji's Reserve Bank and has devalued the Fijian dollar by 20percent in an attempt to boost exports and help an ailing economy.
Tough exchange controls have also been imposed to prevent money from flowing out of the country.
Key tourism, clothing and sugar cane industries are sliding into reverse as the political turmoil hits the Fijian economy.
New Zealand's Foreign Minister Murray McCully calls the situation troubling.
"Thefact that the military have acted in this way, particularly around theReserve Bank, shows that they have little understanding of thecomplexity of that situation and of the damage they could do. ... Wecannot stop the Fijian Government from wrecking their economy if theyare hell-bent on doing so and it appears that they may well behell-bent on doing so," said McCully.
New Zealand and Australia have urged Fiji's military to hold elections, demands that Commodore Bainimarama has ignored.
Bainimarama,a former United Nations peacekeeper, says he was obliged to depose thedemocratic government because it was racist and corrupt. The militarysays elections will be held when electoral and political reforms havebeen completed, although no timetable has been given.
Afterabandoning the constitution and reinstating the military, PresidentRatu Josefa Iloilo said Commodore Bainimarama would serve as interimprime minister for the next five years.
The coup in 2006 wasFiji's fourth in 20 years. Analysts say the root of the country'spolitical instability is tension between indigenous Fijians, who makeup about 55 percent of the population, and ethnic Indians who wereoriginally brought to the country as laborers in the 19th Century bycolonial power Britain.