U.N. officials decry Fiji's crackdown

SUVA, Fiji, April 21 (UPI) -- The military regime in Fiji has began a crackdown on political dissidence despite a United Nations call for democracy to be restored on the island.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported Tuesday that the U.N. Security Council has pressed the regime to relinquish power since it gained control through a bloodless coup in 2006.

U.N. Security Council President Claude Heller of Mexico said the crackdown marks a step backward for the island nation.

"(It) needs restoration of the democracy process that Fiji has been undertaking, in cooperation with regional and international partners as well as the United Nations," he said.

U.N. human rights experts Leandro Despouy and Frank La Rue urged Fiji's military ruler, Frank Bainimarama, to reinstate the judiciary he dissolved and remove the restrictions on the media.