You may remember that Fiji had a military coup and is operating under an interim regime. The interim Prime Minister told the Fiji Broadcasting Corporation that in the absence of the president, the country’s Australian chief justice is the acting head of state.
Interim Prime Minister, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, said that Justice Anthony Gates has assumed the role of President Ratu Epeli Nailatikau, who is on a 16-day tour that includes a nine-day visit to the People's Republic of China. Commodore Bainimarama says he is yet to appoint an acting prime minister and an acting military commander before he heads to the United Nations in New York later this week. The interim foreign minister, Ratu Inoke Kubuabola, is already in the US.
Another interim minister, who previously served as acting Prime Minister, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, is out of the country, attending a meeting in Switzerland.
Hat tip to the East-West Center and Radio New Zealand
(mew)