KEY POINTS:
The military commander threatening to overthrow Fiji's Government is promising a hard line that may derail New Zealand efforts to avert a coup.
Outspoken Commodore Frank Bainimarama yesterday agreed to meet Fijian Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase in Wellington today - but then immediately cast doubt over whether an agreement could be reached.
The Commodore told New Zealand-based Indian broadcaster Radio Tarana that the talks would be short.
"The meeting is going to be the shortest meeting he's ever attended in his life," he said.
"It's very simple - he comes with a yes or no to our demands.
"Let's not get to debate about these issues. We've been debating about these issues for the last six years. He is going to waste his time debating these issues with me."
The military commander's comments came soon after Prime Minister Helen Clark and Foreign Minister Winston Peters said they had brokered a deal to get the Fijian pair to meet on New Zealand soil.
Helen Clark was optimistic that getting the two men together was an important first step.
But she conceded it was impossible to know whether the move would succeed.
"Our desire has been to see if a way can be found to bring people together to at least talk, to see if there is some way through these issues which doesn't involve a breach in Fiji's constitution and a change of Government by force," she said.
"The first step is to get people engaged. Hopefully, having engaged, they can engage further."
The Government House meeting between Commodore Bainimarama and Mr Qarase will be the first time for months that they have come together.
Officials from New Zealand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be on hand to assist the talks if needed.
Commodore Bainimarama was to have flown back to Fiji yesterday after visiting Wellington for the christening of his granddaughter.
Fears in Fiji of a coup were fuelled by his move over the weekend to call about 1000 reservists back to their barracks, and his comment that he intended to "clean up" the Government.
He postponed his flight home after lobbying by Mr Peters, who has met Commodore Bainimarama twice since Saturday.
Mr Peters would not say what he discussed with the Fijian military leader.
He said agreeing to the meeting was "a big call" for both of the Fijians to make.
"Some differences, I think, can be resolved with ease because of our ability to facilitate that, and there are some that are going to take a big step on behalf of both those men and the people that support them," Mr Peters said.
Another coup such as those in 1987 and 2000 would badly hurt Fiji.
"I'm not thinking this is going to be easy but I think New Zealand would want to go to the ends of the Earth to try to see a resolution of what is a country with whose people we have a deep affection."
Mr Qarase arrived in Wellington from Fiji on a Royal New Zealand Air Force aircraft at 9.15 last night.
He was met by Helen Clark and Mr Peters, and then driven into the city.
Helen Clark said earlier that the Government had given Commodore Bainimarama an assurance he was not in danger of being arrested in New Zealand.
Asked if Fiji police had wanted to arrest him here, Helen Clark said: "I think there would have been some interest in such a course, but it's not a course the New Zealand Government would be taking."
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has warned that Fiji would be withdrawn from UN peacekeeping missions if a military coup occurred.
Mr Annan rang Mr Qarase to say that a military coup would not be accepted or recognised, Fiji's Government said.
"A direct consequence would be that the UN would ask Fiji to withdraw from all UN peacekeeping operations," a Government statement quoted Mr Annan as saying.
Mr Qarase said he hoped Fiji's military would take the UN message seriously.
Fiji has about 1000 troops involved in peacekeeping in the Sinai, the Middle East, Iraq, East Timor and the Solomon Islands.
The peacekeeping duties provide a large income and considerable prestige for Fiji's military.
In Suva yesterday, before the New Zealand talks were announced, armed soldiers patrolled the capital for a second day.
Behind the Fiji crisis
The stand-off between the Fiji Government and the country's military forces has its roots in George Speight's failed May 2000 coup.
Commodore Frank Bainimarama accused the Government of supporting coup conspirators and warned that the military would not tolerate political interventions in favour of convicted coup instigators.
Defying attempts to curb his criticism, he lashed the Racial Tolerance and Unity Bill, which would have given immunity to the coup perpetrators, and slammed a measure returning foreshore resources to traditional owners - a move he felt would spark lawlessness and damage Fiji's resort industry.
The outspoken armed forces head, who enjoys widespread support among the military, seemed to win that battle when the Government agreed to put a halt to the legislation.
Though foreign governments have criticised him, the commodore remains unswayed in his political demands.
- additional reporting: NZPA
