Main players in the Fiji coup

HERALD ONLINE STAFF

Ratu Epeli Nailatikau was appointed interim prime minister of Fiji on 31 May 2000 by the commander of the Fiji Military Forces, Commodore Frank Bainimarama. Ratu Lailatikau was army commander at the time of the first 1987 coup, after which Sitiveni Rabuka took control of the military. He is the son-in-law of side-lined President Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara. His wife, Adi Koila Mara Nailatikau, is among some 30 hostages held by the rebel leader George Speight and his gunmen inside the parliamentary complex in Suva.

Commodore Josaia Voreqe (Frank) Bainimarama is commander of the Fiji Military Forces. He declared martial law on 29 May 2000, taking the role of president as Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara stepped aside. He comes from the chiefly family of Kiuva in the village of Bau, about 30km from Suva, where coup leader George Speight also has family connections. It is not clear how well the two men know each other. Commodore Bainimarama joined the Navy in 1975 and trained initially in Britain. After rising through the ranks, Commodore Bainimarama received his first command in 1985 - one of the Fiji Navy's five coastal patrol vessels. The following year he served with the United Nations observer force in the Sinai Desert. In 1988, he became commander of the Fijian Navy. He was appointed Army chief-of-staff in 1998, and commander of the military forces last year.

George Speight is a businessman who was facing several charges, including extortion, in Fiji prior to his attempted coup d'etat. He is the son of Opposition MP Savenaca Tokainavo, who is also known as Sam Speight. George Speight and seven armed men seized Parliament and took the Government hostage on Friday 19 May, as a nationalist parade of indigenous Fijians was being held in Suva. Some of the parade's leaders have said they were used by Speight and knew nothing of the takeover plot before it occurred. Speight is of mixed race, and speaks Fijian poorly.

Mahendra Chaudhry - Labour Party leader and Fiji's first ethnic Indian Prime Minister. His Peoples Coalition Government came to power in May 1999, following the first elections held under a revised Constitution introduced in July 1997.

Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara - Fiji's founding Prime Minister and current President. (The office of President replaced the position of Governor General following a coup in 1987.) He is also a traditional leader, or Ratu, and respected as an international statesman.

Sitiveni Rabuka (pronounced "Rambuka") - currently the Chair of the Great Council of Chiefs and the Commonwealth Peace Negotiator dealing with the current strife in Solomon Islands. He was an Army Lieutenant Colonel when he staged two bloodless coups in Fiji during a period of civil strife in 1987. He was legally elected Prime Minister, under a pro-Fijian constitution in 1992. Rabuka is well respected by indigenous Fijians and across the South Pacific Island nations. He holds no government position at present.

Bose Levu Vakaturaga (Great Council of Chiefs) - An advisory body of hereditary Chiefs which holds the right to appoint the President and some members of the Senate.

Ratu Timoci Silatolu - Was appointed 'Prime Minister' by Speight on the day of the coup, but has not figured prominently since then. He is a former president of the Telecom Employees Association.

More Fiji coup coverage

Under seige: map of the Parliament complex