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SUVA - Fiji's military has called on the Pacific nation's Australian police chief to stand down while an investigation into soldiers' seizure of an ammunition shipment takes place.
Navy Captain Esala Teleni made the request in a letter to Police Commissioner Andrew Hughes, the latest move in an escalating war of words between Hughes and the military leadership.
In the letter, Teleni says Hughes cannot be both complainant and investigator in the munitions case.
Hughes said he had received the letter and flatly rejected what he called a disrespectful request.
"The letter asked me to relinquish my position as commissioner of police but I can assure everyone I have no intention of doing that," he told Fiji commercial radio.
"It's disrespectful and inappropriate."
Hughes alleges that the military last week sent armed troops to collect a 7.5-tonne container of bullets without him issuing a licence releasing them.
He had withheld the permit over fears about the military threatening Fiji's government.
Teleni was acting military commander when the ammunition was seized. He was filling in for Commodore Frank Bainimarama, who issued threats against the government while he was on an overseas tour.
On Sunday, a senior army officer warned Hughes to tread carefully in his dealings with the military and accused him of bringing in Australian and New Zealand police to assist him.
Hughes denied that claim.
The police commissioner has been urgently seeking a meeting with Bainimarama to discuss the military-police standoff.
But a military spokesman today said there would not be any talks this week.
Cdre Bainimarama returned to Fiji over the weekend and faces a police investigation into allegedly seditious remarks he made about forcing the government to resign.
- AAP
