Political Reviews
Political Reviews The Region in Review: International Issues and Events, 2011 nic maclellan Melanesia in Review: Issues and Events, 2011 david chappell, jon fraenkel, gordon leua nanau, howard van trease, muridan s widjojo The Contemporary Pacic, Volume 24, Number 2, 359–431 © 2012 by University of Hawai‘i Press 359 Melanesia in Review: Issues and Events, 2011 Review of Papua New Guinea not top-level schisms. Two of the most included in this issue. senior officers in the Republic of Fiji Military Forces—Land Forces Com- Fiji mander Brigadier General Pita Driti The year 2011 was the first since the and Third Battalion, Fiji Infantry December 2006 coup to occur with- Regiment Commander Roko Tevita out a major political crisis in Fiji. In Uluilakeba Mara—had been, without every previous year, the regime faced official explanation, told to use up stiff tests that potentially threatened outstanding leave in October 2010. its very survival: public sector strikes In February 2011, they were replaced in 2007, the rupture with Mahendra in their substantive positions, respec- Chaudhry’s Fiji Labour Party in 2008, tively, by Colonel Mosese Tikoitoga a ruling on the unconstitutionality of and Lieutenant Colonel Jone Logavatu the government followed by the abro- Kalouniwai. Tevita Mara, the young- gation of the constitution in 2009, est son of the late Ratu Sir Kamisese and schisms among the military top Mara, Fiji’s former president, had command in late 2010. By contrast, until 2008 been a strong backer of 2011 passed without major domestic the 2006 coup and a loyal ally of challenges, although harassment of Bainimarama.
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