Coup fears growing in Fiji
Pastor Dale Morgan
Coup fears growing in Fiji*
POSTED: 1226 GMT (2026 HKT), November 29, 2006
SUVA, Fiji (Reuters) -- Fiji's military stood poised to take over parts
of the capital in defiance of the government and possible foreign
intervention, hours after an Australian army helicopter crashed nearby
amid fears of an imminent coup.
The military exercises were announced not long after New
Zealand-brokered talks between Fiji Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase and
defiant military chief, Commander Frank Bainimarama, broke up in
Wellington on Wednesday without apparent resolution.
The Republic of Fiji Military Forces (RFMF) said that the three-hour
exercises would begin in Suva at midnight (1200 GMT).
Up to 2,000 troops would secure areas stretching from Suva's downtown
market area along the waterfront past the governor's residence and the
national parliament, officials said.
The military warned the public to exercise caution and told them not to
be alarmed if they saw troops in battle gear.
"The exercise will entail securing strategic areas within the greater
Suva area and also the firing of illumination rounds into the sea," the
RFMF said in a statement.
"The exercise is in anticipation of any foreign intervention and the
RFMF is taking all precautionary measures," it said.
Bainimarama has repeatedly threatened to remove Qarase's government
unless it drops several pieces of controversial legislation, including a
bill that would grant amnesty to those involved in a coup in 2000.
Not long before the military show of force, Australia's defense force
confirmed that one of its soldiers had been killed and another was
missing after a Black Hawk helicopter crashed as it tried to land on a
navy transport ship south of Fiji.
Of the 10 troops aboard the helicopter, seven were injured but none
seriously, Defense Force head Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston told
reporters in Canberra.
Another coup?
The helicopter had been stationed on board HMAS Kanimbla, one of three
warships Australia sent towards Fiji this month in case it needed to
evacuate nationals as fears grew that the South Pacific nation was about
to suffer its fourth coup since 1987.
Bainimarama was incensed when Canberra sent the three ships, warning
foreign powers to back off from Fijian affairs.
He is also angry that Pacific Island Forum foreign ministers are to meet
in Sydney on Friday in an attempt to find a diplomatic solution under
the same regional pact that enabled Australia to lead a mission into the
Solomon Islands.
Fiji's regional neighbors are worried about Bainimarama's military
exercises. "I'm not aware anyone is threatening foreign intervention. I
can assure you New Zealand isn't," New Zealand Prime Minister Helen
Clark said.
Australia updated its travel warning for Fiji late on Wednesday and said
that it had begun evacuating family members of embassy staff from Suva.
Fiji has suffered three coups since 1987. Bainimarama was almost killed
in a failed but bloody mutiny linked to the 2000 coup and blames Qarase
for being too soft on the men behind those upheavals.
Clark arranged the talks in an attempt to avert another coup, which
Qarase has said would be disastrous for a fragile Fijian economy based
on tourism and sugar, but the meeting broke up after about two hours
with both men taking separate flights home.
Bainimarama gave Qarase a list of "non-negotiable demands" and a
two-week deadline last week, at the same time threatening a "clean-up"
of Qarase's government.
Fijian police are investigating whether Bainimarama should face sedition
charges over his threats.
Bainimarama's list of demands includes the sacking or resignation of
Fiji Police Commissioner Andrew Hughes, an Australian. Hughes attended
the New Zealand talks and then left to take leave in Australia, local
media reported.