End Fiji "coup culture", says first coup leader

SUVA (Reuters) - The army colonel who staged Fiji's first coup in 1987 and went on to become its democratically elected prime minister has called on the South Pacific island nation to end its "coup culture" after four rebellions.

Fiji is currently ruled by its army chief and self-appointed prime minister, Frank Bainimarama, after he staged a bloodless coup in 2006, claiming the government was corrupt and soft on those behind an earlier coup in 2000.

Former prime minister Sitiveni Rabuka said he was wrong to have staged the first coup in 1987, arguing at the time that indigenous Fijians were losing control of their nation to the descendents of ethnic Indians brought to work on sugar farms.

"It was a mistake and I admit I was wrong," Rabuka told the Fiji Times newspaper on Thursday, a day after the 21st anniversary of his takeover.

"Staging a coup is something no one should be proud of because you don't become a hero, so all the copycats should not think they will be heroes," Rabuka said.

Fiji has struggled to heal its racial divisions since Rabuka's coup, with two subsequent coups racially motivated.

"Let's put all that behind us and stop this coup culture because it does not help with development and progress," said Rabuka.

He staged the first coup in May 1987, then another coup four months later, declaring Fiji a republic and handed power to an interim administration. In 1992, Rabuka was elected prime minister, serving from 1992-1999.

Former prime minister Laisenia Qarase, who was toppled in the latest coup in 2006, said each coup set the island nation back 20 years and it could ill-afford another overthrow.