Like most Fijians, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, the world’s newest dictator, puts everything aside for a game of rugby union.

So the bloodless coup carried out by the Fijian military chief on Tuesday night was timed deliberately not to disrupt the sports-mad nation’s obsession with the game, particularly the Fijian sevens team that played in a competition in Dubai the previous weekend.

It was not surprising, then, to find the 52-year-old commodore playing touch rugby in a park in Suva, the Fijian capital, with his soldiers less than 48 hours after he deposed the elected government of Laisenia Qarase. “We had the morning meeting and then he said, ‘Let’s go and sweat it out’,” one of his bodyguards told The Times.

The commodore looked more relaxed than he does during his evening addresses to the nation. He was laughing and shouting encouragement, running to be part of the action.

Yesterday, however, the plans that Commodore Bainimarama has for the idyllic South Pacific island received a severe blow when Fiji was suspended from the Commonwealth until democracy is restored, a move that puts at risk vital economic aid.

The origins of this week’s coup are complex and go back six years to the attempted coup perpetrated by George Speight and his rebel supporters, in May 2000. Speight stormed the parliament building in Suva and took Mahendra Chaudry, the new Prime Minister, and his fellow MPs hostage for 56 days.

Mr Chaudry, who is still the main opposition figure, had just formed the first Indian-dominated government and Speight was feeding on nationalist sentiment among the ethnic Fijian majority, who feared economic dominance of the country by the Indian community.

Commodore Bainimarama committed his first coup as part of the military-backed solution — talking Speight into giving up his hostages.

The commander pushed aside the President and formed an interim military administration before installing Mr Qarase as acting prime minister.

It was an appointment that he grew to regret as Mr Qarase went on to win two elections, revealing through the patronage of government that he was closely aligned with the people who plotted the coup.

The last straw came when the Qarase Government announced legislation late last year to pardon many of those still in prison.

For a year the military campaigned to force the Qarase Government from office by peaceful means. Mr Qarase retailiated by putting Commodore Bainimarama under investigation for sedition. Last Tuesday it became too much.

“As of 6 o’clock this evening the military has taken over the Government as executive authority in the running of this country,” Commodore Bainimarama announced to the nation.

Earlier in the day he seized the police armoury, the Prime Minister’s vehicle and keys to his office. The next morning he detained the acting police commissioner — who had accused him of being a liar — and replaced him with a colonel.

Heavily armed soldiers and military checkpoints appeared on the streets of Suva and the fourth coup in 19 years was swiftly executed.

Commodore Bainimarama is said to be a man who does not seek power as an end in itself, seeing himself instead as a liberal guardian who wants to see his country develop as a strong multicultural Pacific power.

Fiji’s new leader has significant but unstated support among the country’s business and professional elites, who grew increasingly frustrated by what many considered to be a corrupt administration.

With no interim government in place, Commodore Bainimarama was forced to order one of his retired officers, a 77-year-old military doctor, to be interim prime minister. He is now advertising in the nation’s newspapers for applicants to make up a Cabinet.

The powerful Great Council of Chiefs has refused to legitimise his “illegal” actions and has demanded the reinstatement of the deposed head of state, Ratu Josefa Iloilo.

The new regime is strapped for cash and worse could be to come as international sanctions bite. The bureaucracy has begun a programme of civil disobedience and the top finance bureaucrat in Fiji has gone into hiding, taking with him the access codes to the nation’s coffers.

The military almost ran out of fuel a day after the coup and requisitioned 5,000 litres.

Australia called for passive resistance but Stuart Huggett, the British-born Public Service Commission chairman, was allegedly attacked by the Commodore the day after the coup, according to Alexander Downer, the Australian Foreign Minister.

Simon Kearney is a correspondent for The Australian

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