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POLITICS-FIJI: Coup Fears Intensify as Army Disarms Police

Shailendra Singh

SUVA, Dec 4 2006 (IPS) - Fears of an impending military coup in Fiji intensified on Monday after the army raided police armouries and set up roadblocks in the capital.

Heavily armed soldiers first took control of the elite police tactical response unit headquarters in Nasinu, 15 km from Suva, emptying it of weapons. Later, they took over the armoury at the Nasova Police Barracks near Suva and were seen carting away confiscated firearms.

By evening, armed soldiers were reported manning roadblocks at several places.

Addressing the press, the Fiji Military Forces commander, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, said the police were being disarmed to ensure that they did not fire on the army. “Security forces will ensure the security of all the people of Fiji,” he declared in a statement without taking further questions.

The raids and the roadblocks were the first clear signs that the military was moving on its threats to remove the elected government of Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase and install an interim government under martial law.

Earlier, acting police commissioner, Moses Driver, said the raids were illegal and that police would charge the soldiers who ordered and carried them out. “Fiji is not under martial law, nor is the executive arm of government incapacitated or the judiciary in disarray,” Driver said. “The act of confiscating police arms is therefore unreasonable, unwarranted and unlawful. This continuation of unlawful acts must stop.”

Meanwhile, an embattled Qarase, who was holding a meeting in the province of Naitasiri when the raids took place, was forced to fly back to Suva by helicopter after soldiers reportedly set up a checkpoint at Saweni, which leads to the province of Naitasiri.

Fiji, a nationa of 900,000 people has been on the tenterhooks since Friday, when an ultimatum by Bainimarama to the government to either resign by midday or be forced out, ended.

The warning followed the breakdown of mediation talks between Bainimarama and Qarase in Auckland last week. The talks were brokered by New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clarke and her foreign affairs minister Winston Peters in an attempt to avert a coup.

Despite the stepping up of activities by the army, the central business district in the capital was open for the entire day today. But some retailers continued to report slow sales during what is normally a busy period.

“Our takings today were half of what we would normally collect,” said Nawin Nirmal, the Shell Service station cashier in central Suva. Suva Retailers Association president, Himmat Lodhia, said the uncertainty was proving costly for the business community and has called for an end to the impasse. He said retailers lost heavily when the town emptied by 11am on Friday because of the panic caused by Bainimarama’s ultimatum to government to either resign by midday or be forced out.

The military strongman has been at loggerheads with government for several months now, saying it was corrupt and was protecting the perpetrators of the 2000 coup. He has demanded that government abolish three controversial draft bills, sack Fiji’s Australian police commissioner and disband the elite police tactical response unit.

Bainimarama opposes land rights legislation that favours indigenous Fijians over ethnic Indians.

On a TV programme, Sunday, Bainimarama said he took the government’s failure to meet his demands as giving the military the green light to carry out its “clean up” campaign. He said that a civilian interim administration would be appointed and that the transition would be carried out smoothly.

Qarase, whose cabinet members moved out of their offices before the Friday deadline issued by Bainimarama, resurfaced the following day to announce that the civilian government was still in control.

Today, he reiterated that his government would not resign and warned the commodore that he was breaking the law. He said he had the support of the people.

Fiji’s leading daily newspaper, The Fiji Times, denounced the military commander in an editorial on Monday. It said the majority of the people did not support his so-called transition, and that his plans, no matter how good the intentions, were illegal. “The nation is teetering on the edge of uncertainty. Her people, at least the majority, are hurting as hundreds have lost their jobs and thousands more hang in the balance,” said the editorial.

Fiji’s immediate neighbours, Australia and New Zealand have threatened to cut off all aid and military ties should Bainimarama execute a coup. Canberra has sent warships to carry out a quick evacuation of its nationals, should that become necessary, but ruled out military intervention.

Warnings have also been sounded by the United States. United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan had warned of a ban on Fiji’s participation in any future peacekeeping missions if the army was involved in a coup.