History
Fiji, which had been inhabited since the second
millennium B.C., was explored by the Dutch and the
British in the 17th and 18th centuries. In 1874, an offer of cession by the
Fijian chiefs was accepted, and Fiji was proclaimed a possession and dependency
of the British Crown. In the 1880s large-scale cultivation of sugarcane began.
Over the next 40 years, more than 60,000 indentured laborers from India were
brought to the island to work the plantations. By 1920, all indentured servitude
had ended. Racial conflict between Indians and the indigenous Fijians has been
central to the small island's history.
Fiji became independent on Oct. 10, 1970. In Oct.
1987, Brig. Gen. Sitiveni Rabuka staged a coup to prevent an Indian-dominated
coalition party from taking power. The military coup caused an exodus of
thousands of Fijians of Indian origin who suffered ethnic discrimination at the
hands of the government.
A new constitution, which took effect in July 1998,
provided for a multiracial cabinet and raised the prospect of a coalition
government. The previous constitution had guaranteed dominance to ethnic
Fijians. In 1999, Fiji's first ethnic Indian prime minister, Mahendra Chaudhry,
took office.
Prime Minister Is Deposed in Attempted Coup
Continuing ethnic tensions, partly fueled by economic
problems, plunged Fiji into a national nightmare in 2000. On May 19, a group of
armed soldiers entered Parliament and took three dozen people hostage, including
Prime Minister Chaudhry. George Speight, a part-Fijian businessman, led the
insurrection, and he demanded that the 1998 constitution be rewritten to allow
dominance of ethnic Fijians. The standoff lasted two months. In July 2000,
Speight and other coup leaders were taken into custody and charged with treason.
In Feb. 2002, Speight was sentenced to death, but his sentence was commuted.
Although the coup was foiled, deposed prime minister
Chaudhry and his democratically elected government were not restored to power.
Instead, the military and the Great Council of Chiefs, a group of 50 traditional
Fijian leaders, appointed an interim government dominated by ethnic Fijians.
Elections were held in 2001, but no party achieved a majority. Interim prime
minister Laisenia Qarase's Fijian United Party won 31 of 71 seats, and Qarase
was sworn in as prime minister in September. His cabinet consisted entirely of
ethnic Fijians, but the supreme court declared Qarase's government
unconstitutional in 2003. In 2004, political infighting stalled the
implementation of a new multiethnic cabinet. Much to Prime Minister Qarase's
displeasure, Vice President Ratu Jope Seniloli and four other prominent figures
were convicted for their part in the 2000 coup and imprisoned in Aug. 2004. In
2005, Qarase backed a highly controversial bill that included an amnesty clause
for the 2000 coup leaders. The bill was supported by the Great Council of Chiefs
and the ethnic Fijian establishment but vehemently rejected by the opposition
(led by former prime minister Chaudhry, who was deposed in the coup) as well as
the military. Qarase was narrowly reelected in May 2006 for another five-year
term.
Dr. Senilagakali Is Installed As Prime Minister in Fiji's Fourth Coup
In December Fiji's military commander, Commodore
Frank Bainimarama, announced he had assumed executive power, deposed Prime
Minister Qarase, and appointed Jona Senilagakali, a medical doctor, as interim
prime minister. It was the country's fourth coup since 1987. Tensions had built
up over several years between the military and Qarase over a corruption scandal
and issues regarding the 2000 coup—the military accused the prime minister of
excessive leniency toward those who had orchestrated that coup.
In January 2007, Bainimarama reinstated Josefa Iloilo
as president. Senilagakali resigned as interim prime minister, and Bainimarama
succeeded him.
Bainimarama and the military grabbed more power in
April of 2009. Reacting to a ruling by Fiji's Court of Appeal, which stated that
the military government was illegally appointed after the 2006 coup and that
democratic elections should be held as soon as possible, Bainimarama refused to
step down and instead increased censorship of Fiji's media, expelled foreign
journalists, and announced that elections would not be held until 2014.
President Ratu Josefa Iloilo, believed to be a puppet of Bainimarama, announced
that he head repealed the Constitution. Iloilo retired in July and was replaced
by Ratu Epeli Nailatikau.
In September, the Commonwealth of Nations, an
association of Great Britain and its dependencies and former dependencies,
suspended Fiji, saying the country had failed to make progress toward returning
to a democracy
