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Fijian military commander promises peaceful coup

Fiji's military commander said yesterday he planned to quickly remove the government if it refused to resign and told Fijians they should not be afraid of what would happen in the coming days.

Amid reports of detailed plans for the army to swoop in the middle of the coming night, Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama repeated his pledge of a "peaceful transition" for the Pacific nation.

"No one should be frightened of what's going to happen in the next couple of days," he told Fijian television.

Bainimarama said he would force Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase from office if he did not resign voluntarily, following the passing of a Friday deadline for the government to agree to a series of military demands.

Fiji's Sunday Post said the military would begin by sealing off the capital, Suva, with roadblocks at 3am today.

Bainimarama refused to outline any plans but branded the article as rumors and "not true" in a television interview.

Qarase, for his part, said he did not expect military action overnight.

Speaking to reporters after consulting with his National Security Council, Qarase said that he planned a special meeting for the Cabinet tomorrow to consider Bainimarama's "latest and ever-changing" demands.

He said that the "Cabinet will consider those demands and of course we will be making a decision as a government on his demands."

The prime minister called on his 900,000 countrymen to pray for the country yesterday as the mainly conservative Christian nation went to church.

But Bainimarama has repeatedly warned the government to quit or face being replaced.

He said that the president should resign now, or the military would force him to do so.

Asked how long the military would wait before acting, he said: "I'm telling you the quicker we do it, the better."

"This government will be changed. If [Qarase] doesn't want to resign, we will look for ways to obtain his resignation," Bainimarama said.

He had previously set a deadline of noon on Friday for the government to bow to the military's demands.

Demands included scrapping controversial legislation and ending a police investigation into possible sedition charges against Bainimarama.

Two days on, the military has not yet taken any overt action to remove the government.

Bainimarama accuses Qarase's nationalist United Fiji Party government of being soft on plotters of the racially-fuelled coup of 2000.

He also says that Qarase's government favors the indigenous majority in the country over its ethnic Indian minority.

Tensions came to a head after he labeled talks with Qarase earlier in the week a failure and rejected wide-ranging concessions from the premier.

The Sunday Post report, quoting government and military sources, said Suva was expected to be sealed by military roadblocks early today.

It said the government would be dismissed and parliament would be dissolved.

An interim administration would be installed that would consist of a mixture of some current legislators as well as former politicians, indigenous chiefs and soldiers.

Bainimarama, however, said that any interim government would be made up of civilians.

Qarase insisted his government would remain in control.

He said that any attempt to unseat him in what would be Fiji's fourth coup in two decades would be treason.

"What he has been saying is totally illegal, it is against the constitution of Fiji, against the laws of Fiji and would amount to treason," Qarase added, referring to Bainimarama.
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