SUVA, Fiji, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Fiji coup leader and self-appointed Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama on Tuesday ordered Australia and New Zealand recall their envoys within 24 hours, accusing them of interference.
Bainimarama said he had ordered the expulsions because Australia and New Zealand had interfered with Fiji's judiciary and tried to hinder his plans to hire judges from Sri Lanka to fill posts.
"The culmination of these incidents displays a consolidated effort to attack Fiji's independent judiciary," Bainimarama told a news conference in the capital Suva.
"It is my government's duty to ensure that no foreign government should interfere with such judicial independence and integrity. We must always protect and be proud of our sovereignty," he said, adding Fiji had recalled its envoy to Canberra.
Bainimarama is bringing judges from Sri Lanka after a Fijian court declared his government was declared illegal and he sacked the country's judiciary. The new judges would usually travel via either Australia or New Zealand.
Australia and New Zealand have placed travel bans on members of Bainimarama's government, but reject charges that they have refused visas to the yet to be appointed judges.
"The New Zealand government will now consider the appropriate steps to take in response to today's expulsion and also assess the impact of this action on the already depleted resources in our Suva High Commission," said Foreign Minister Murray McCully.
Bainimarama staged a bloodless coup in 2006 claiming the then government was corrupt. Fiji has suffered four coups and a bloody military mutiny since 1987.
CRISIS
In April this year Fiji was plunged into fresh crisis after the president reappointed Bainimarama as prime minister, less than two days after the High Court ruled his coup and subsequent government was illegal.
Bainimarama then dismissed the country's judiciary and many public servants and imposed complete censorship in Fiji. He has since appointed a Chief Justice and on Tuesday announced a new president, who will swear in a new judiciary.
Chief Justice Anthony Gates said on Monday that Australia tried to persuade the Sri Lankans not to take up their positions, warning them that they faced a travel ban if appointed.
Australia, New Zealand and the EU, three of Fiji's major aid donors and trading partners, have imposed sanctions on Fiji and called for fresh elections as soon as possible.
Bainimarama, who had promised an election this year, has now ruled it out until 2014.
The Commonwealth said in September it had suspended Fiji after the nation failed to meet a deadline for opening talks on a return to democracy.
(Reporting by Michael Perry; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)
© 2009 Reuters
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