Nov. 5 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. said it “deplores” Fiji’s expulsion of Australian and New Zealand diplomats and urged the military-led government to restore freedom of speech in the Pacific island nation.

“These actions have undermined any opportunity for progress toward reengagement and constructive dialogue with its neighbors,” State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters in Washington yesterday.

Fijian army chief Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama, who seized power in a December 2006 bloodless coup, ordered Australia’s and New Zealand’s top diplomats to leave earlier this week, accusing them of waging a “negative campaign against the government and people of Fiji.” The governments in Canberra and Wellington retaliated yesterday by expelling Fiji’s top diplomatic officials.

The spat deepens Fiji’s international isolation. It was suspended from the 53-nation Commonwealth in September after refusing to hold elections by October 2010, losing access to the body’s $7.5 billion aid budget. The country was also suspended in May from the Pacific Islands Forum, a 16-nation bloc including Australia and New Zealand.

Fijian-born Australian academic Brij Lal was detained by the military in the capital, Suva, yesterday and given 24 hours to leave the country, shortly after criticizing Bainimarama’s actions in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corp., the broadcaster reported.

Lal, a leading researcher on Fiji’s political history, said he doubted whether the government would hold elections in 2014 as pledged, according to the report.

Emergency Rule

International criticism of Bainimarama’s government has intensified since April when it declared a state of emergency, censored the media and extended military rule for five years. Australia and New Zealand severed defense ties and imposed travel bans on Bainimarama and his ministers after the coup.

“The United States calls for the restoration of Fiji’s independent judiciary and the rights to free speech and assembly that are essential to the country’s return to democracy,” Kelly said, according to a transcript.

Bainimarama, who is interim prime minister, says he wants to change the electoral system in the ethnically divided nation before holding a ballot. Under the present system, people in some constituencies can only vote for candidates from their ethnic community.

The population of 944,000 is made up of 57 percent indigenous Fijians and 38 percent ethnic Indians, according to U.S. government data. Three of the nation’s four coups in the past 22 years were sparked by ethnic tensions.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ed Johnson in Sydney at ejohnson28@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 4, 2009 17:43 EST