1. Identify the reasons for the 2006 coup.
Since Independence, Fiji has witnessed four military coups, two in 1987, one in 2000, and an attempted civilian putsch followed by a military mutiny in 2006. The fourth coup however is the culmination of a long deadlock between Fiji's civilian and military leaders. The dispute between the two men has its origin in Mr Qarase's attempt to introduce legislations that would have offered a pardon to people involved in the 2000 coup and allocate the ownership of coastal land to ethnic Fijians.
First and foremost, it should be noted that past coups had much to do with the fear among indigenous Fijians of losing political control to Indo-Fijians, who dominate the economy. What is more unusual about the 2006 coup was that the two protagonists were both indigenous fijians. In fact, it was the commodore, Frank Bainimarama who appointed Mr Qarase to power after the 2000 coup. Leading up to the coup, Bainimarama warned that he would overthrow the government if the legislations was passed. Mr Qarase won the re-election in May. Perhaps, his victory gave him the confidence where he decided to exert civilian authority once and for all. So, while Bainimarama was visiting Fijian peacekeepers in the middle east, the Prime minister, Laisenia Qarase ordered the dismissal of the military chief.
However, Bainimarama, did not step down from his position. With the backing of the military, refused point black, and threatened , yet again, to oust the Prime minister, once he returned to Fiji. The prime minister's failed attempt to sack the military commander was a crucial moment in the slow burning crisis. Civilian authority was fatally undermined while Commodore Bainimarama had the upper hand.
Nevertheless, all the triggering causes were present. there were several threats to the military's interest, most notably from the pending criminal charges against Banimarama but also from a scheduled Supreme Court Ruling into the role of the RFMF, and the increasing presence of the police TRU, which began to closely resemble a palace guard. There were plenty of government failures, particularly over the three contentious Bills and the ongoing corruption issue. However, the government failures were no more severe than they had been in other disputes, rather it appears that it was the strength of the threats to the military's interest that generated the motivation to overthrow the government. The opportunity was also there as a result of a deflation in the legitimacy of the SDL government due to its "ethnically biased" policies and the difficulties in effectively governing during the multi-party cabinet dispute. Many cohesion was also strong , having fully recovered from the attempted mutiny in January. The Commodore has once again established enforced cohesion. It appears that each of these opportunity factors were necessary, as they combined to create the appropriate opportunity for the military intervention. As a consequence, the triggering causes came together, the underlying background tensions were enacted upon and the government was overthrown.
Which were the controversial bills that led to the confrontation between the military and the government during the phrase between 2000-2006.
The controversial bills which led to this confrontation between the government and the military was the Unity Bill, the Qoliqoli Bill and the Indigenous Claims Tribunal Bill. The military and the public viewed these Bills "ethnically biased" and felt that they would take the government's nationalistic stance to a new and unacceptable level. Tensions grew in late October, when the police held seven tonnes of ammunition by force. At the same time, the government tried unsuccessfully to supplant Bainimarama as the Commodore of the RFMF. While the military called for the removal of the government over these actions, at this stage, they did not intervene , and it appeared that the conflict would simply die away in a similar manner to those that preceded it .
However, two weeks later, a second ultimatum was issued, this time with nine demands to be met within two weeks or for the government to resign. The demands included the removal of the three bills as well as the removal of Andrew Hughes as Police Commissioner and the dropping of the investigation that were conducted into Bainimarama's comments and actions against the government.