SUVA, Jan 4: The Fiji’s coup leader on Thursday returned executive authority to the nation’s former president, who swiftly endorsed last month’s coup and said an incoming government would offer immunity to its leaders.
The move opens the way for President Ratu Josefa Iloilo to name an interim government to take Fiji to general elections, although armed forces commander Voreqe Bainimarama is expected to retain the effective reins of power.
“I now hand over executive authority to the president,” Bainimarama told a press conference. “God Bless Fiji.” Reports in Fiji said he would be sworn in as interim prime minister after the resignation also on Thursday of caretaker premier Jona Senilagakaki, but the military refused to confirm or deny the claims.
Bainimarama appealed to Fijians and the international community -- which condemned the coup and introduced sanctions -- to support the South Pacific nation’s incoming government.
Speaking for the first time since losing power in the bloodless Dec 5 coup, Iloilo said he endorsed the putsch that ousted prime minister Laisenia Qarase’s government and would have done the same.
The reinstated president, who is a long-time ally of Bainimarama, said an interim government would offer an amnesty to him and the rest of the military over the putsch.
In an address to the nation after Bainimarama’s press conference, Iloilo, 86, said he had been prevented from exercising his authority in the run-up to Qarase’s overthrow, although he refused to elaborate.
Iloilo was reportedly a firm supporter of Bainimarama in his long-running dispute with the government, which the military commander claimed was corrupt, adopted racist policies against the country’s ethnic Indian minority and was soft on those involved in a coup in 2000.
The president said that given the circumstances, he would have taken the same actions as Bainimarama.
“Therefore, I fully endorse the actions of the commander in acting in the interests of the nation and most importantly in upholding the constitution,” Iloilo added.
He said it was now time to move on to “enforce a genuine democracy” in a “Fiji-based solution.” “I will therefore, shortly after consultation with capable people, announce an interim government to take us smoothly to the next elections,” he said.
He promised the new administration would “facilitate all legal protections” for Bainimarama and the armed forces for its role in the coup.
The president is mainly a figurehead with the real power residing with the prime minister and cabinet. He is the commander-in-chief of the military and has formal powers to appoint the government, although he would normally act on the advice of the prime minister.
In December’s coup, the island nation’s fourth in two decades, Bainimarama ousted Qarase’s nationalist government and named himself interim president.—AFP