Court outlaws Fiji military government

The interim government has run Fiji since July

The Court of Appeal in Fiji has ruled that the country's military-backed interim government is illegal.

The government took power last year following a coup by indigenous Fijians who overthrew the country's first ethnic Indian prime minister, Mahendra Chaudhry.

Mr Chaudhry said the ruling meant he was still the country's lawful leader.

Mr Chaudhry: Interim government "illegal"

Fiji's interim Prime Minister, Laisenia Qarase, said that his cabinet would meet next Tuesday to consider the ruling and that the Great Council of Chiefs, Fiji's traditional indigenous ruling body, would meet later in the week.

"At the end of his consultations, his excellency, President Ratu Josefa Iloilo, will announce to the nation the pathway forward to returning our country to constitutional rule," he said.

The judges - from Australia, New Zealand and Britain - said military commanders had acted illegally by abandoning the multiracial constitution.

And they instructed President Iloilo to reconvene parliament, which has not sat since the coup. They also told Mr Iloilo to step down within two weeks.

Mr Chaudhry welcomed the court orders.

He said it was "not in the best interest of Fiji" for the "illegal interim regime to continue".

The interim government was appealing against an earlier ruling by the Fijian High Court that the 1997 constitution remains intact, and the president should reconvene parliament and appoint a prime minister to form a new administration.

The case had been brought to the High Court by an ethnic Indian farmer, Chandrika Prasad, whose property had repeatedly been attacked last year by indigenous mobs.

Rebel deal

The High Court had ruled that suspending the previous constitution, which upheld minority rights, was illegal.

Rebels stormed parliament last May and took hostages

In the coup last May, nationalist rebels stormed parliament and held Mr Chaudhry and others hostage.

After striking a deal with rebels, the military set up the interim government, accepting rebel demands to scrap the multi-ethnic constitution and bar ethnic Indians from power.

The new government is made up almost entirely of ethnic Fijian politicians.

The interim government - which has come under fire for curtailing minority rights - was being defended by a British lawyer, who argued it should remain in order to protect stability.

There are fears that the ruling against the interim government could spark racial and political violence.