Heavily armed Fijian troops put up roadblocks throughout the
capital on Monday night and took weapons from key police
installations as fears of a fourth coup in 20 years gripped the
South Pacific nation.
Dozens of troops set up roadblocks in and around Suva, completely
blocking some roads but allowing traffic to pass along others, a
Reuters witness said.
Truckloads of armed soldiers earlier left military headquarters in
Suva and embattled Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase was forced to fly
by helicopter back into Suva due a roadblock.
The army kept up the pressure on Qarase when he was later summoned
to President Ratu Josefa Iloilo's residence.
Qarase drove to the sprawling harbourside estate but was told by
soldiers at a roadblock outside that he would have to walk the rest
of the way, a witness inside the grounds said.
Qarase, whose bodyguards were also disarmed by the military,
refused and returned to his office.
Fiji's military chief has threatened to topple Qarase's government
over a long list of grievances and accuses it of being too soft on
those behind Fiji's last coup in 2000.
"Security forces will be out there and will ensure the security of
all the people of Fiji," Commander Frank Bainimarama said at a news
conference inside the main Suva barracks.
Bainimarama did not say he was taking over the country, but said
that police weapons were confiscated so that "dissidents" did not
use them against the military.
Earlier on Monday armed troops seized weapons from the police
tactical response unit, the only armed police group, and entered a
second police armoury.
"There will be no violent confrontation with the military, they are
armed, we are not armed," Fiji's Acting Police Commissioner Moses
Driver told a news conference in Suva.
Bainimarama has said he will "clean out" Qarase's government, which
was re-elected in May for a second five-year term, but that it will
be a peaceful transition.
Qarase told Fiji radio on Monday morning that he remained in
control and has called an emergency cabinet meeting for
Tuesday.
Fiji has suffered three coups and a bloody since 1987.
Resistance
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said the military was
trying to "slowly take control" in what amounted to a coup by
stealth.
"My guess is that within the military there is a fair bit of
resistance to these tactics and quite a lot of resistance to a
coup. There isn't an inclination to mutiny against the commander,
so it's a torturously complicated situation," Downer told
Australian radio.
There was no obvious signs of a split in the military.
The police and the hugely influential Great Council of Chiefs
called for calm.
"I think fear has started to emerge with the public at large," said
acting police commissioner Driver.
The Fiji Daily Post said Bainimarama had drawn up a 13-member
interim cabinet to be led by an unidentified member of Qarase's
government.
It quoted unidentified sources as saying that the list included two
former prime ministers and that Bainimarama had chosen a portfolio
for himself.
Fiji's latest political crisis has alarmed its South Pacific
neighbours, with Australia sending three naval ships 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.
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