Isa Lei Democracy.

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I'm sitting in Bula internet, at the heart if Nadi, Fiji. It's roasting and humid outside, but thankfully it's air conditioned in here. Nothing except church happens on a Sunday in Fiji. All that shops are shut and I've spent most of the day here.

Tomorrow I travel to Levuka, the old colonial capital, off the east of Viti Levu the mainland. I'm not entirely sure how I'm getting there yet. I've been told I need to get a bus, then a minibus then a boat then a bus. All of that sounds complicated and of course everything runs on Fiji time, so one of them is bound to be late. Fiji's a tiny country though, I'm sure it can't be that hard.

As some of you may or may not have heard, there is a situation developing in Fiji. A military coup may take place at any point. It's all rather complicated and I don't feel qualified to give you a summary but I'll do so anyway. The head of the Military Commander Bainimarama feels that the democratically elected government headed up by Prime Minister Qarase on a number of issues, mainly on controversial legislation absolving parties involved in the last coup in 2000, but also in holding a highly racial stance towards Indo-Fijians and other minorities as well as other issues. Because of this he has laid down an ultimatum to Qarase that unless his demands are met by a certain deadline the he will take temporarily charge of the country. Fair enough you may suggest, although it obviously unconstitutional, maybe it is the only way of cleaning up a corrupt government. Problem is Bainimarama is a fairly corrupt Bugger himself and one of his demands is that the Police halt investigations into a number of curious executions authorized by Bainimarama himself around the time of the last coup. The Police are also heavily involved and there is long running animosity between the army and the police as it is. For more details you can look up the rest on the internet.

It would all seem rather amusing, two corrupt power mongers bickering like old ladies if it wasn’t severely affecting the countries tourist infrastructure, upon which it relies, The Australians and Kiwi’s have both issued travel warnings and most of the island resorts certainly seem less than full.

The deadline has past, but nothing seems to have happened. No one is sure who’s running the country as the Commander hasn’t made a formal statement. While this sort of crises is obviously not great for your average Fijian, it’s also fascinating being a tourist in a country where something like this occurring, (although walking around the streets if Nadi, you wouldn’t know anything was up). Fiji is a mild place and any military intervention won’t affect any tourists, so (touch wood) it shouldn’t prove dangerous. But I’m keeping out of Suva just the same. It will be interesting to see how things unfold.

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