Fiji’s military commander declared emergency talks with the country’s prime minister a “failure” and set a deadline of noon tomorrow for the government to meet his demands or face an imminent military coup.
Commodore Frank Bainimarama rejected as “lies” an announcement by Laisenia Qarase, the Fijian Prime Minister, that he had agreed to a range of concessions.
Mr Bainimarama has threatened a coup unless legislation exonerating the leaders of a coup in 2000 is dropped and the police commissioner, Australian Andrew Hughes is sacked following his investigations into whether Mr Bainimarama was guilty of sedition
“We have given the government until tomorrow afternoon to answer to our demands.
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“If by tomorrow afternoon they have not answered to our demands, then we will take it for granted that we have been endorsed to do the cleaning up campaign in Fiji,” Mr Bainimarama said at a press conference today.
“We hope this is going to be a peaceful transition, because we don’t expect any confrontation nor do we expect any opposition,” he said.
Mr Qarase, in a statement broadcast nationally a few hours earlier, agreed to suspend work on bills opposed by the military commander.
Mr Bainimarama opposes three pieces of government legislation: one offering amnesty to the plotters of the 2000 coup, another which hands coastal land ownership in the multi-ethnic country to indigenous Fijians, and a third granting compensation for land owners.
Mr Qarase added that the contract of Mr Hughes was due to end soon, and his appointment would be reviewed. In the meantime, Hughes was on leave, he said. Mr Hughes is due to give a press conference about his position in Australia tomorrow.
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He also hinted the government would welcome a decision by state prosecutors not to charge Mr Bainimarama for his recent comments against the government.
The Prime Minister said the concessions came out of crisis talks yesterday with Mr Bainimarama in Wellington, New Zealand. However, Mr Bainimarama flatly rejected these claims saying: “They are all lies. I never said yes. He has prolonged the impasse, which we want to have fixed straight away.
“I say again, if they don’t participate in this clean up campaign immediately the military will do it for them.”
Foreign ministers from Pacific nations, including Australia and New Zealand, are due to gather in Sydney tomorrow to discuss the crisis in Fiji. However, the threat of a coup looks to have eased following the Mr Qarase’s comments.
Bernard Lagan, of The Times in Sydney, said: “My feeling is that it’s over. The government has buckled almost completely and if there was a coup now it would be very hard for the military commander to justify.”
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Mr Bainimarama and Mr Qarase have been in a tense stand-off for two months over the commander’s repeated threats to force the government out if it does not accede to a range of demands.
Last night, soldiers fired flares and set up checkpoints in a show of force in the capital Suva. The military said Fijian troops were ordered on to the streets after they feared foreign powers were set to invade the country to quell the imminent military coup.
Colonel Pita Driti, the Fiji military’s land force commander, said: “We are just taking precautionary measures tonight because a foreign intervention could be imminent.”