Australia considers sanctions on Fiji

The Australian government isn't ruling out sanctions on Fiji as the military regime suspends democracy and censors the media.

Military ruler Commodore Frank Bainimarama was reappointed as Fiji's interim prime
minister on Saturday, two days after his two-year-old coup regime was declared
illegal.
Fiji President Ratu Josefa Iloilo administered the oath of office a day after he
repealed the constitution, sacked the judiciary and appointed himself head of state.
A military censor has entered the newsroom of Fiji's largest daily newspaper for the
first time, prompting Australia's media union to describe the Pacific nation as
having some of the world's harshest media restrictions.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) is urging travellers to avoid the
Fiji capital, Suva.
"The current political uncertainty could lead without warning to an outbreak of
violence and civil unrest, in particular in and around Suva," DFAT's updated travel
advisory said.
"You should avoid demonstrations, street rallies and public gatherings as such
events could result in civil disorder."
Trade Minister and Acting Foreign Minister Simon Crean described the latest
developments as "disturbing", and said Fiji faced expulsion from the Pacific Islands
Forum and possible sanctions.
"This is a matter for consideration down the track," he told reporters in Melbourne
on Saturday.
"I think that the urging at the moment is for the government and the new
administration to declare its intentions to return to democracy."
Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Julie Bishop said Australia should raise the
issue of sanctions through the 53-nation Commonwealth of Nations.
"We would not want to harm the Fijian people but the sacking of the judiciary is
very disturbing," she told AAP.
"The Australian government with the Commonwealth of Nations must take whatever steps
they can to restore democracy."
A military censor entered the newsroom of Fiji's biggest daily newspaper on Good
Friday, News Limited spokesman Greg Baxter told AAP.
At this stage the paper is being published but Fiji Times editor Netani Rika is not
publishing articles that have been censored.
Two managing directors of the newspaper have been deported from Fiji during the past
year, with Mr Baxter describing the latest move to deploy military censors as a
"more serious threat than we've had in the past" to put pressure on the media.
Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance federal secretary Christopher Warren said
Fiji had some of the worst press freedoms in the world.
"In this region, we've had our difficulties ... but the action that's been taken by
the authorities is taking Fiji to the worst global traditions of censorship," he
said.
A DFAT spokeswoman says it is believed Mr Iloilo, who at 78 needs a walking stick,
is being "manipulated" by Commodore Bainimarama's "shadowy military council".
The Australian government is of the view that Mr Iloilo had clearly acted in
defiance of the law by ignoring a Court of Appeal decision on Thursday that the
previous government was unconstitutional.
That decision prompted Commodore Bainimarama to announce he was temporarily stepping
down as prime minister, a position he had assumed following a December 2006 coup.