Fiji: the end of the emergency?

Fiji's military regime has officially ended the state of emergency in place since the December 5 coup. However, that apparently doesn't mean an end of military repression, with a military spokesperson warning darkly that Fiji's Public Order Act (which bans the incitement of violence and racial antagonism, disturbing the peace, the holding of protests without a permit, and the spreading of "false news" to "create or foster public alarm and anxiety") will be "strictly enforced". Fortunately, though, it will be done by the police rather than the army.

The regime has done this in an effort to access $350 million of aid from the EU, which had been made conditional on an end to the "emergency". However, that aid is also conditional on the regime holding elections by March 2009 - something the military would rather delay until it has completed its program. So, hopefully we'll see the EU use this leverage to move things in the right direction: towards a full restoration of democracy and the prosecution of the Fijian military's high command for treason.

Meanwhile, the military continued its persecution of its critics right up until the last minute. A civil servant in the Public Service Commission was dragged off to camp yesterday, and the regime has also threatened that students at the University of the South Pacific will have scholarships withdrawn if they are found to be contributing to blogs criticising the regime. Again, these are not the actions of a regime comfortable with its behaviour - but what they're really worried about is that other people will be uncomfortable as well.