Welcome for Fiji rule of law

The interim government has run Fiji since July

By Phil Mercer in Suva

The Commonwealth has hailed a decision by the Appeals Court in Fiji to declare the military-backed interim government illegal.

Secretary General Don McKinnon said the ruling sent a clear message that the rule of law could not be overturned by force.

Mahendra Chaudhry: Hoping for comeback

The judgement upheld Fiji's multi-racial constitution, abandoned by the military after a nationalist coup last year.

The security forces have said the country has remained calm despite earlier fears the court's ruling could spark violent protests.

Australia has promised to lift its sanctions if there is a swift return to democracy.

But Fiji will have to wait at least another week to find out what the President, Ratu Josefa Iloilo, intends to do.

Equal rights

He is expected to confer with the powerful group of indigenous leaders, the Great Council of Chiefs, later next week.

The president will also be advised by the interim prime minister. Laisenia Qarase will summon his cabinet to a meeting on Tuesday.

There are those who fiercely oppose the judges' decision. The hard-line nationalist Taukei movement has said it will never accept the 1997 multi-racial constitution.

George Speight, now in prison, led the coup

But it has now been upheld as the supreme law of the land by the court.

The document gave the large ethnic Indian minority political rights equal to those of indigenous Fijians and allowed Mahendra Chaudhry to become the country's first Indian prime minister.

He is in India and has said he would like the opportunity to govern the country once again.

A spokesman for Mr Chaudhry's Labour Party said Fiji should be rejoicing and said the judgement was a victory for justice.

But for now at least many Fijians are more worried about the weather than politics. Tropical cyclone Paula is passing to the south of the islands, battering the country with winds up to a 100km/h, causing widespread damage and flooding.