*Source: DTN News / Int'l Media
(NSI News Source Info) SUVA, Fiji - September 2, 2009: The Commonwealth says it has suspended Fiji after the Pacific Island nation failed to meet its demands to begin restoring democracy.
Fiji's military chief Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama (R) is sworn in as interim prime minister by President Josefa Iloilo (L) during a ceremony at Government House in Suva on April 11, 2009. Fiji has been plunged into a new political crisis since the Court of Appeal declared that Bainimarama's government had been illegally appointed by Iloilo following the December 2006 military coup.
Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma announced Fiji's suspension from the 53-nation group in a statement Tuesday.
The Commonwealth, comprised of the United Kingdom, its dependencies and many former British colonies, ruled in July that unless Fiji opened democracy talks, it would be cut off from all aid from the group. The Commonwealth had called for Fiji to start the political dialogue to pave the way for democratic elections by October 2010.
Sharma said Tuesday that although Fiji's Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama sent him a letter re-affirming his commitment to the Commonwealth, his response did not meet the group's full conditions.
The action also formally suspends the island nation from all Commonwealth sporting events. New Zealand's Prime Minister Murray McCully had said full suspension of the Pacific archipelago nation from the Commonwealth was imminent at some stage.
Fiji was already suspended from the Pacific Island Forum, a regional bloc of 16 nations and major trade partners, including the European Union, Australia and New Zealand.
Fiji's leader, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, took power in a 2006 coup.
He promised to restore democracy by 2009. But in May of this year, the government postponed the election until 2014.
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