Fiji expels top New Zealand diplomat

Fiji's military ruler said Thursday he was expelling New Zealand's top diplomat, sending already strained relations between the South Pacific nation and one of its biggest neighbors spiraling even lower.

New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark called the expulsion "absolutely disgraceful," and said her government would respond by tightening sanctions imposed after Fiji's armed forces chief, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, seized power last December.

Bainimarama said Thursday he had told New Zealand High Commissioner Michael Green to leave because the diplomat would not "stop interfering in Fiji's domestic affairs."

Bainimarama said in a statement that Fiji "deeply regrets this action, but in the circumstances it has had little choice."

New Zealand and Australia have been outspoken in criticizing the coup, and are leading international efforts pressing Bainimarama to quickly return the country to democratic rule.

The two South Pacific powers, along with the United States and Britain, imposed sanctions on Fiji immediately after the coup. New Zealand is refusing access to Fiji citizens connected to the military regime, and is cutting defense, sports and some aid links.

Clark said she will suspend talks under way with Fiji about sea boundaries, and will step up a campaign for Fiji to be thrown out of U.N. peacekeeping operations.

"We think it's ridiculous ... that a country that denies its people democracy and justice is then deployed by the U.N. ... in an effort to bring peace and justice to other countries," Clark told reporters during a trip to Australia.

The world body has resisted calls to remove Fiji soldiers from missions already under way.

New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters also deplored Green's expulsion.

"Expelling diplomats is not the way to carry out diplomatic relations," Peters said.

New Zealand officials had tried for "several days" to get Fiji to reconsider the action, which Clark called "a giant step backward" from restoring democracy.

Peters said New Zealand would not retaliate by expelling Fiji's top diplomat, whom Bainimarama said earlier that Wellington had "continuously snubbed."

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Associated Press Writer Ray Lilley in Wellington, New Zealand contributed to this report.