Former Coup Leader Appointed PM in Fiji

Karl Marx once said "History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce," or if we have to quote George Bernard Shaw, "If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must man be of learning from experience."

President of Fiji Ratu Josefa Iloilo apparently heard neither as he has seen no harm in appointing the former coup leader Commodore Frank Bainimarama to head the politically unstable South Pacific nation's government on Saturday, less than two days after a court ruled his 2006 coup illegal.

Bainimarama came to power in a bloodless coup in 2006. On Thursday, in a case brought by former prime minister Laisenia Qarase, the Court of Appeal overturned an earlier judgment that the military chief's government was legal, and called for a new government led by neither man pending fresh elections.

Iloio was quick to respond: he annulled the Constitution, enacted emergency powers for the country's military and police, and finally issued a decree giving himself the power to appoint a prime minister by decree.

After this tactical mistake, we shall soon see how two dancers on a single rope can manage in this troubled heaven.