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Fiji's Home Affairs Ministry is keeping a close watch on the military to ensure recent promotions and reports of high-level meetings are not a threat to national security, the Fiji Times reports.
The military scrutiny follows unsubstantiated reports that military commander Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama has been meeting senior officers and demanding their allegiance.
The principal assistant secretary defence, Peni Lomaloma, says that after being told of a meeting between the commander and his senior officials, the ministry has been keeping an eye on developments to ensure "it does not threaten national security.
"The talk is that some officers cannot see eye to eye with him," Lomaloma says.
Bainimarama will neither confirm nor deny a special meeting, but says he meets with senior officers every week.
"The Ministry probably picked that information from the roadside. What is confidential to us cannot be released to the media," he says.
According to the newspaper, suspicions were aroused by recent changes in high ranking positions in the army and navy, although some senior officers say these were necessary to accommodate officers going abroad on courses and those returning.
One such officer is believed to be Colonel Viliame Seruvakula, a key witness in the 2000 coup investigations, who was expected to return to Fiji soon from secondment in New Zealand.
The stand-off between the home affairs ministry and Bainimarama is believed to have been caused by the imminent expiry of the commodore's contract and an apparent government desire to replace him.
Bainimarama's contract expires at the end of February but he has stated he would like to see all the perpetrators of the 2000 coup brought to justice before he moves, a statement which has not gone down well with many politicians.
He has also accused the government of going soft on people involved in the coup.
But government officials have told him it is the job of the police and not the military to ensure those linked to the coup are arrested and charged.
More than 2,100 people have been taken to court on charges related to the coup with 704 found guilty.
Three men, including supposed leader George Speight, were convicted of treason and are now serving life sentences.
Speight pleaded guilty in his trial and no evidence was heard, while the other trials left the impression that the full story had yet to be told.
Seruvakula, who in 2000 was commander of the Third Battalion of the Fiji Infantry Forces, was interviewed by Fiji police last year and disclosed the names of those he claimed were the real leaders of the coup.
Seruvakula moved to New Zealand soon after playing a key role in crushing a military mutiny in Fiji in late 2000.
© AAP
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