Communications: Telephones: main lines in
use: 112,500 (2005); mobile cellular: 205,000 (2005). Radio
broadcast stations: AM 13, FM 40, shortwave 0 (1998).
Television broadcast stations: n.a. Internet hosts:
12,137 (2007). Internet users: 80,000 (2006).
Transportation: Railways: total: 597 km;
note: belongs to the government-owned Fiji Sugar (2006).
Highways: total: 3,440 km; paved: 1,692 km; unpaved: 1,748 km
(1999 est.). Waterways: 203 km; 122 km navigable by motorized
craft and 200-metric-ton barges (2004). Ports and harbors:
Lambasa, Lautoka, Suva. Airports: 28 (2007).
Fiji consists of 332 islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean about 1,960
mi (3,152 km) from Sydney, Australia. About 110 of these islands are
inhabited. The two largest are Viti Levu (4,109 sq mi; 10,642 sq km) and
Vanua Levu (2,242 sq mi; 5,807 sq km).
Government
Republic.
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.
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 the parliament and took three dozen people hostage,
including President 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 eventually 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.
In December Fiji's military commander, Commodore Frank Bainimarama,
announced he has 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 Iloilo as president.
Senilagakali resigned as interim prime minister, and Bainimarama succeeded
him.
