Fiji to appoint new prime minister

SUVA, Fiji -- In a surprise move, the president of racially-split Fiji will swear in as prime minister the Labour Minister of an interim government appointed after a coup last year, a spokesman said.

"[Ratu Tevita] Momoedonu is on his way to Suva with the president and the swearing-in ceremony will be done tonight," Joji Kotobalavu, a spokesman for the prime minister's office, said.

Momoedonu's appointment is a surprise move by President Ratu Josefa Iloilo, who had been expected to name interim Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase as caretaker premier leading to fresh elections later in 2001.

Momoedonu became labour minister under Qarase and also held the portfolio under the People's Coalition government of Mahendra Chaudhry, Fiji's first ethnic Indian prime minister, who was ousted during an anti-Indian putsch last May.

Fiji's Great Council of Chiefs said earlier on Wednesday it favoured early elections to end a political crisis sparked after the South Pacific nation's highest court ruled on March 1 that Qarase's military-backed government was illegal.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Fiji: the key events
Fiji president reappoints Qarase as caretaker PM
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