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Fiji's president swears in post-coup ministers
Ratu Josefa Iloilo swears in eight interim ministers to serve under coup leader and interim Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama.
Fiji's reinstated president Ratu Josefa Iloilo on Monday swore in eight interim ministers to serve under coup leader and interim Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama.
The ministers were sworn in at a ceremony at Government House in the capital Suva, with more expected to be sworn in on Tuesday.
The eight appointments included former military commander and speaker of parliament Ratu Epeli Nailatikau, who was sworn in as minister of foreign affairs and external trade.
Jona Senilagakali, who served as Bainimarama's caretaker prime minister for nearly a month after the coup, was named as health minister.
Former deputy leader of the Fiji Labour Party, Poseci Bune, who was thrown out of the party last year after a conflict with leader Mahendra Chaudhry, was given the commerce, industry, investment and communications portfolios.
Military commander Bainimarama, who deposed the elected government of Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase in a bloodless coup on December 5, reappointed 86-year-old close ally Iloilo as president on Thursday.
Iloilo then swore in Bainimarama as interim prime minister the following day.
New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters last week described the appointment of Bainimarama as interim prime minister as a charade designed to legitimise the coup.
