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Topic: 1987 coups


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In the News (Sat 30 Aug 08)

  
  Fiji coups of 1987 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Fiji coups of 1987 resulted in the overthrow of the elected government of Fijian Prime Minister Timoci Bavadra and in the declaration of a republic.
The first coup, in which Bavadra was deposed, took place on 14 May 1987; a second coup on 28 September severed ties with the British Monarchy, and was shortly followed by the proclamation of a republic on 7 October.
Parliamentary elections in April of 1987 resulted in the replacement of the indigenous-led government of Prime Minister Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara with a multi-ethnic coalition supported mostly by the Indo-Fijian majority, and Rabuka claimed ethnic Fijian concerns of racial discrimination as his excuse for seizing power.
en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Fiji_Coups_of_1987   (727 words)

  
 Sitiveni Rabuka - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
From 1982 to 1987, he was an operations and training officer for the Fijian army, except for a two-year absence (1983-1985) when he commanded the Fiji Battalion as part of a peacekeeping force in the Sinai.
Bainimarama also accused Rabuka of having "politicized" the Counter Revolutionary Warfare (CRW) unit, which he had founded as a bodyguard in 1987, to favour both the mutiny and the earlier takeover of parliament in May. Members of the CRW were involved in both the May coup and the November mutiny.
So many among them were on the side of the coup perpetrators in 2000, he said, that their decision to support the bill could not be seen to have been made objectively.
en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Sitiveni_Rabuka   (2284 words)

  
 KieranBennett.com » Blog Archive » 7 interesting coups!   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-01)
The military justified its coup, the deaths of one thousand people and a state sponsored drugs racket on the grounds that this was “interpreting the wishes of the people and the interest of the nation”.
Ultimately the coup failed, and by the crisis of 2000 his various “reforms” to safeguard ethnic Fijians at the expense of majority Indians had been repealed and anther Indian was Prime Minister.
The King was able to stage a coup because of his position, yet the nature in which he obtained it (succession after the murder suicide of the previous royal family) has undermined the legitimacy of his office.
kieranbennett.com /?p=33   (1665 words)

  
 Republic of Fiji
Fiji was declaired a republic in October 1987 with the establishment of a care-taker government until the promulgation of a new constitution in 1990 and the election of a civilian government two years later.
Until the military coups, Fiji's population was almost fifty percent Indian, descendants of migrant workers from India brought in by the British to work the sugar cane fields.
The two coups, as well as the new constitution, endeavored to remove two preceived threats to Fijian political supremacy which existed under the old constitution; the prospect of an Indian-dominated party controlling the lower house, and the possibility of any non-Fijian becoming prime minister.
www2.hawaii.edu /~ogden/piir/pacific/fiji.html   (1144 words)

  
 History of Fiji
In April 1987, a coalition led by Dr. Timoci Bavadra, an ethnic Fijian supported by the Indo-Fijian community, won the general election and formed Fiji's first majority Indian government, with Dr. Bavadra serving as Prime Minister.
Democratic rule was interrupted by two military coups in 1987, caused by concern over a government perceived as dominated by the Indian community (descendants of contract laborers brought to the islands by the British in the 19th century).
The coups and a 1990 constitution that cemented native Melanesian control of Fiji, led to heavy Indian emigration; the population loss resulted in economic difficulties, but ensured that Melanesians became the majority.
infotut.com /geography/Fiji   (1946 words)

  
 The coups have cost Fiji very dear, says Chaudhry   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-01)
Your presence with us, as we remember the tragic consequences of the three coups of 1987 and 2000, is a reflection of the concern you share about the impact of such events on our country and the lives of our people.
The garment trade is in effect, a product of the 1987 coup - when to revive a shattered economy, policy makers had to turn their back on traditional primary industry sectors such as agriculture, to lure in tax free manufacturing industries with huge tax concessions.
Following the coups and the racially exclusive policies espoused by the post-coup regime, FSC became highly politicised with the result that the administration began serving political rather than commercial objectives.
www.flp.org.fj /n050520.htm   (3173 words)

  
 Australian Parliamentary Library - Research Paper 7 1997-98
The coups of 1987 and their institutionalisation in the 1990 Constitution were an attempt to protect indigenous Fijian society from the perceived threat of a government not entirely controlled by indigenous Fijians.
The coups of 1987 revealed Fiji to be a country with deep social cleavages, the nature of which are conventionally analysed in racial terms.
Rabuka's second coup of 1987 was, after all, a strike against a compromise formulated by the traditional Fijian leadership.
www.aph.gov.au /library/pubs/rp/1997-98/98rp07.htm   (8464 words)

  
 APMRN - Migration Issues in the Asia Pacific - Fiji
This remarkable degree of concentration is based on Fiji’s membership (until 1987) of the British Commonwealth (explaining the importance of Canada as a destination), close proximity (Australia and New Zealand) and chain migration.
The coups led to a sharp increase in emigration: 41,767 of the total emigrants between 1973—1994 emigrated after the coups, comprising almost 50 per cent of the total.
He highlighted the impact of the two coups on emigration to New Zealand: ‘57 per cent of the total net gain of around 10,700 during the 1980s is accounted for during the period April 1987 to March 1980 (Bedford 1989, p.
www.unesco.org /most/apmrnwp6.htm   (3283 words)

  
 Coup In Fiji - Armed Men Topple Prime Minister, No Injuries Reported
The coup, which took place as thousands of Fijians demonstrated against the government of Mahendra Chaudhry, appeared to be well organized -- international telephone lines were cut moments before seven gunmen attacked parliament house.
But it was not clear whether the coup was backed by Fiji's powerful military, which played a crucial role in 1987 coups against an Indian-dominated government.
Coup leader George Speight, the son of opposition politician Sam Speight, told reporters at the parliament he was taking control "on behalf of every individual member of the indigenous Fijian community."
www.rense.com /general/coup.htm   (613 words)

  
 Migration Information Source - Fiji Islands: From Immigration to Emigration
Three coups in 13 years, two in 1987 and one in 2000, have dealt a severe blow to the islands' economy, shaken investor confidence, strained race relations already frayed in an ethnically divided society, and corrupted the institutions and practices of good governance.
From independence to 1987, Fiji was ruled by a political party dominated by indigenous Fijians (with support from a section of the Indo-Fijian community and the smaller minority communities) headed by a high chief, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara.
According to Manoranjan Mohanty, a demographic geographer at the University of the South Pacific in Suva, between 1987 and 1996, 5,100 Indo-Fijian professionals emigrated, of whom 21 percent were architects, engineers, and related technicians, 15 percent accountants, 31 percent teachers, 12 percent medical, dental, veterinary, and related workers, and 21 percent other professionals.
www.migrationinformation.org /Profiles/display.cfm?ID=110   (2404 words)

  
 Timeline 1987b   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-01)
Hain was 17 in 1987 and claimed to be under the influence of Robert Lambert.
1987 Nov 4, Six-year-old Lisa Steinberg was pronounced dead at a New York City hospital in a child-abuse case that sparked national outrage; Joel Steinberg, a lawyer who adopted her illegally, was later sentenced to prison for manslaughter.
1987 Dec 21, In New York, three white teen-agers from the Howard Beach section of Queens were convicted of manslaughter in the death of a fl man who was chased onto a highway, where he was struck by a car.
timelines.ws /20thcent/1987B.HTML   (8564 words)

  
 Thailand - GOVERNMENT
In 1987 the customary role of the Senate as a major vehicle for the power of the bureaucracy and a counterweight to the elective lower house remained little changed, even though its stature seemed to have diminished somewhat after April 1983.
In 1987 the Royal Command appointing the prime minister had to be countersigned by the president of the National Assembly, the leader of the military-dominated Senate, who had the power to block the installation of anyone unacceptable to the military establishment.
In 1987 a new press bill was pending before the National Assembly, the intent of which was to give the press as much autonomy as possible except in time of war or in a state of emergency, in which case the press officer would be allowed to exercise censorship.
www.mongabay.com /reference/country_studies/thailand/GOVERNMENT.html   (14354 words)

  
 CHAPTER ONE POLITICAL BACKGROUND   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-01)
However the 1987 elections brought a shift in the political landscape in favour of the Indo-Fijians.
Colonel Rabuka then staged a second coup on September 25, 1987 objecting to the participation of the deposed coalition government in the proposed government and the exclusion of the military from the negotiations.
Following the 1987 military coups and the rescinding of the 1970 Constitution, this arrangement was replaced in 1990 by a new Constitution whose dominating feature was a full-scale reversion to communal representation.
www.undp.org.fj /elections/reports/com/chapter1.htm   (2156 words)

  
 [No title]   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-01)
This paper critically examines the cuases and consequences of the 1987 military coups.
It argues that the coups were the results of the process of institutionalised and politicised class and ethnic conflict over the years, from the colonial to the post-colonial era.
In this context, the wave of ethnic Fijian nationalism which inspired and justified the military coups were products of the complex interplay between class and ethnic forces which were constructed and reproduced during the colonial epoch.
www.life-peace.org /default2.asp?xid=498   (144 words)

  
 ILW.COM -Gafoor   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-01)
According to the U.S. State Department, the "stated purpose of the 1987 military coups was to ensure the political supremacy of the indigenous Fijian people and to protect their traditional way of life and commu- nal control of land." U.S. Dep't of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1992, at 566 (1993).
One day in October 1987, he was on patrol when he heard screams in a nearby street and came upon a man in civilian clothing who was rap- ing a 13-year-old girl.
The 1987 coups were staged by the ethnic Fijian military to ensure the domi- nance of ethnic Fijians.
www.ilw.com /immigdaily/cases/2000,1106-Gafoor.shtm   (8913 words)

  
 Matthew Patay   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-01)
On 8 December 1987, Ratu Ganilau was appointed the first ever President of the new Republic of Fiji.
Democratic rule was interrupted by two military coups in 1987, caused by concern over a government perceived as dominated by the Indo-Fijian (Indian) community.
A year later, this was deposed in a coup led by George Speight, a hardline Fijian nationalist.
aes.iupui.edu /rwise/NoteofMonth/matthew_patayAugust2005Fiji.htm   (694 words)

  
 Café Pacific: Asia-Pacific Network: Fiji
Apologising for the exodus of the Indian community after the bloodless 1987 coups, Rabuka pledged at a campaign meeting to make their lives far better than they had ever been.
"Victims of the military coups of 1987 still carry the scars of their ordeal," the paper said, drawing a parallel with the "ethnic cleansing" in Kosovo and racism of Nazi Germany.
Many victims of the coups insist that Rabuka cannot leave his apology at that - they are demanding that he reveal who "used" him to overthrow a popularly elected government at gunpoint.
www.asiapac.org.fj /cafepacific/resources/aspac/fiji.html   (1464 words)

  
 News Features - 24/05/00: Fiji forces rethink in Australian diplomacy . ABC News
It was the same in 1987, when cables from Australia's mission in Suva about the chances of military action were not given to Ministers by the Foreign Affairs-Intelligence bureaucracy in Canberra.
The shock of Rabuka's coups awoke Australia to both the demands and limitations of its role as the major power in the South Pacific.
The top diplomat, Richard Woolcott, said Rabuka's 1987 coups showed how interests did not necessarily translate into influence: "Although Australia was, for example, Fiji's largest economic partner and had the largest military capacity of the countries of the south west Pacific, we found we could not rewrite the Fijian constitution after the coup.
www.abc.net.au /news/features/stories/s130701.htm   (947 words)

  
 Prospects for further military intervention in Melanesian politics - Political Development in the Pacific World Affairs ...   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-01)
Mutinies and rebellions defy the authority of the civilian government, and possibly the military command, but only become coup attempts when their objective is to take over the government.
To mount a coup the basic requirement is the existence of armed forces, police, or militia willing and able to attempt to remove the government.
Until the first Fiji coup in May 1987, the Pacific island region was unique among regions emerging from colonial rule, as it had not experienced any military takeovers of government.
www.findarticles.com /p/articles/mi_m2393/is_3_164/ai_84841828   (852 words)

  
 VIEWPOINT: Destruction of Democracy in Fiji - September 6, 2002
To appease the coup leader, the army agreed to an amnesty for Speight and his henchmen and in the afternoon, the 1997 Constitution was revoked by a military decree.
The worst part was that the army negotiators were sympathetic to the Speight coup and senior officers of the armed forces had compromised their position by presenting a whales tooth (tabua) to the hijackers at the height of the crisis.
The events of 1987 and 2000 show that the security forces (military and the army) have become highly politicised and consequently do not enjoy the confidence of all sections of the community of their commitment to safeguard interests of all citizens.
archives.pireport.org /archive/2002/september/09-06-21.htm   (9590 words)

  
 IPA in the News | Coffee Coups of the Café Set
And earlier this week there was a coup in the Solomons, capping off eighteen months of gruesome ethnic violence which arose out of attempts by indigenous Guadalcanal islanders around Honiara to force settlers from neighbouring Malaita to return to their own island.
So while they still like to haul out the ragged banner of 'colonialism' to excuse it all, even the most sentimental members of the 'outraged' classes must be feeling drained of some of their righteousness in regards to the Pacific, just as they have become weary of thinking about African politics.
The government that Rabuka ousted in 1987 was a coalition between the Indian-dominated National Federation Party and the multiracial Fiji Labour Party.
www.ipa.org.au /files/news_564.html   (879 words)

  
 President Of The Republic: 1993 2000 - Kamisese Mara
Following the military coups of 1987, Fiji had severed its links with the British monarchy and become a republic, with a List of Presidents of Fiji and List of Vice-Presidents of Fiji chosen by the Great Council of Chiefs (Fiji).
In what politicians called a coup within a coup, Ratu Mara was whisked away on a warship on May 28, where he was allegedly approached by a group of present and former military and police officers and ordered to suspend the Constitution of Fiji.
After the coup had been quashed, the Supreme Court of Fiji ruled that Maras replacement was unconstitutional and ordered his reinstatement, but Mara, wishing to spare the country further constitutional trauma, officially resigned, with his resignation retroactive to May 29, 2000.
mywebpage.netscape.com /Afra2837/kamisese-mara-president-of-the-republic-1993-2000.html   (701 words)

  
 Body   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-01)
In the Australian and other Western news media, the recent troubles, the 1987 coups and subsequent developments have always been painted as a struggle between the two dominant racial groups in Fiji: its Indigenous population and the descendants of Indian indentured labourers who were brought to Fiji by the British as cheap labour.
Now as in 1987, even if they were all to vote as a block (which they never have) they could not instal a government and dictate terms to the Indigenous population who make up more than 50% of the population.
Whilst there were many Indians infuriated by the developments of the 1987 coup, few advocated any kind of armed resistance and an organised civil disobedience campaign which could easily have crippled the country in a day never seemed to eventuate.
users.bigpond.net.au /ArtSlutNews/UmderstandingFijiSituation.HTM   (4304 words)

  
 [No title]
Rabuka's stated reasons for the coup were to prevent inter-communal violence and to restore the political dominance of the ethnic Fijians in their home islands.
The naval division currently consists of two coastal patrol craft purchased from a U.S. manufacturer in 1987, four ex-Israeli Dabur-class coastal patrol craft which were built in the mid-1970's and acquired by the RFMF in 1991, and three newer Pacific-class patrol boats which were donated by Australia in 1994 and 1995.
Following the 1987 coups, the governments of Australia, New Zealand and the United States officially suspended defense cooperation and military assistance arrangements with Fiji.
www.umsl.edu /services/govdocs/backgroundnotes/fiji.txt   (4207 words)

  
 TIME Pacific | A House Built on Sand | July 24, 2000 | NO. 29
These institutions were the chief beneficiaries of the coups that Sitiveni Rabuka staged in 1987 in the name of indigenous Fijian rights.
Shocked at losing the Prime Ministership at the 1987 election, he readily supported Rabuka's coup one month later-and was rewarded, ruling as Fiji's unelected Prime Minister for four years and later becoming President.
The military's support of the 1987 coups served it well: its numbers have since nearly doubled, and during the 1990s Rabuka turned a blind eye to its annual budget overruns.
www.time.com /time/pacific/magazine/20000724/fiji.html   (867 words)

  
 Fiji (05/02)
Prior to the 1987 coups, Fiji was often cited as a model of human rights and multiracial democracy.
More than 70,000 people left the country in the aftermath of the 1987 coup, some 90% of which were Indo-Fijians.
With the continued expiration of land leases and the instability surrounding the 2000 coup, an outflow of skilled workers is again being reported.
www.state.gov /outofdate/bgn/f/22445.htm   (2493 words)

  
 Since 1987 Fiji has exhibited all the signs of an inexorable decline in political stability
The first constitution after the 1987 coups provided for greater protection and enhancement of indigenous Fijian voting rights and land tenure and other interests, beyond the protection that had been afforded in the 1970 constitution.
Although Ratu Mara did not capitulate immediately to the demands of the coup leader, his ability to quell the coup attempt was limited by his fear of harm coming to the captives, and perhaps by a lack of confidence in the loyalty of the armed forces.
His Lordship held that the Speight coup had not succeeded and went on to consider the legality of the Commander's actions in the light of the doctrine of necessity as applied in the field of constitutional law.
www.geocities.com /noelcox/Fiji.htm   (5711 words)

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