SUVA (Fiji) - FIJI'S military ruler on Tuesday gave the top diplomats from Australia and New Zealand 24 hours to leave the country, deepening a rift between the island nation and its biggest South Pacific neighbours.

Commodore Frank Bainimarama and the governments of Australia and New Zealand have been at loggerheads since the two regional powers led condemnation of the military leader's 2006 overthrow of the elected government in a bloodless coup.

The latest spat is over a group of expatriate judges from Sri Lanka that Fiji wants to hire to replace some of those fired by Mr Bainimarama's administration in a power grab earlier this year.

Australia and New Zealand told the judges this week that if they take up the posts in Fiji they would be subject to travel bans the two countries have placed on all senior officials in Mr Bainimarama's regime because of the coup.

'I cannot understand why Australia and New Zealand are engaged in dishonest and untruthful strategies to undermine our judiciary, our independent institutions and our economy,' Mr Bainimarama told reporters on Tuesday.

In April, Bainimarama ally President Ratu Josefa Iloilo fired all of Fiji's judicial officers after a senior court ruled that the commander's government was illegal. Since then, Mr Bainimarama has been appointing new judges, with critics complaining they are not independent appointments. -- AP