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Fiji's military is likely to force the embattled government of Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase to step aside on Monday, military chief Commander Frank Bainimarama said and warned Qarase not to oppose him.
"Transition is expected to take place tomorrow as a deadline," Bainimarama told Fijian-language television on Sunday.
Fiji's political crisis has reached breaking point amid widely held fears that the South Pacific island nation's fourth coup in 20 years was imminent.
Qarase and Bainimarama have been embroiled in a power struggle all year. Bainimarama gave the government a list of "non-negotiable" demands almost a fortnight ago and threatened a "clean-up campaign".
Bainimarama told Fiji television that he expected Qarase's government, re-elected in May for a second five-year term, to "give in peacefully" and leave office.
"If resistance happens, the military will not be very kind and will come after first those who are inciting the resistance," he said.
"It will be in the best interest of the prime minister not to resist his removal," said Bainimarama, who issued the government a deadline of last Friday to meet his demands.
Qarase said earlier on Sunday that he had called an emergency meeting of his cabinet for Tuesday. Asked if he thought the military was about to remove him from office, Qarase said: "No".
"What he's been saying, that will be totally illegal, it shall be against the constitution of Fiji, against the laws of Fiji, and it will amount to treason," Qarase told reporters.
Bainimarama said that if Qarase opposed the military he would be sent to Nukulau island where George Speight, the leader of a 2000 coup by armed indigenous nationalists, is serving a life sentence for treason.
Bainimarama said he was planning an interim government but that its line-up had yet to be finalised and that the transition would be "peaceful".
"No one should be frightened about what's going to happen in the next couple of days," he said.
The streets of the capital Suva were quiet and calm on Sunday as Qarase and Bainimarama joined thousands of church-goers in the deeply religious nation. Qarase had asked his people on Saturday to pray for their country.
Bainimarama installed Qarase as interim leader after declaring martial law to put down the 2000 coup, but now accuses him of being too soft on those behind that coup and a failed but bloody mutiny linked to it in which the commander was almost killed.
A Fijian newspaper, the Sunday Post, quoted unidentified government and military sources as saying the military would begin its "clean up" of the government at 3am on Monday (4am NZT).
Fiji's political crisis has alarmed its South Pacific neighbours, with Australia sending three warships to the area in case it needs to evacuate holidaying nationals. Bainimarama has said his military would oppose any foreign intervention.
The United States, Britain and the United Nations have all warned Bainimarama not to attempt to take over the government, with concerns that another coup would devastate the fragile local economy based on tourism and sugar.
Bainimarama has repeatedly threatened to remove Qarase's government unless it drops three pieces of legislation, including a bill that would grant amnesty to those involved in a 2000 coup.
Qarase has bowed to most of his demands, including suspending the three bills, but Bainimarama is still not satisfied.
He accuses Qarase of having people associated with the 2000 coup in his government and high public offices.
