Meeting aims to defuse Fijian standoff

Laisenia Qarase

Fiji's acting President will today host a critical meeting between the country's Prime Minister and military chief after a weekend of destabilising accusations.

On Friday Fiji's military forces commander, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, forced his deputy, Lieutenant Colonel Jone Baledrokadroka, to stand down, alleging he planned to overthrow him.

On Saturday the commander claimed Colonel Baledrokadroka had also "threatened to shoot me" and may have had political encouragement to act.

But Colonel Baledrokadroka - who has said he forced the confrontation as a result of the commander's "treasonous" acts - replied that he never once threatened to shoot the commander.

His actions had been prompted by Commodore Bainimarama giving a "very contentious" order to senior officers last Monday that they should rescue him if he was arrested.

He accused the commander, who last week repeated threats to remove the Government, of manoeuvring chosen officers into key positions.

The commander in turn has suggested comments made to the colonel last week were designed to test his loyalty, rather than a demonstration of his actual intentions.

Today's meeting will be the first between the commander and Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase since Mr Qarase first renewed fears of a military coup.
The pair have clashed repeatedly over the past 10 months and the commander has regularly overstepped his constitutional authority.

Despite the problems, political observers in Fiji yesterday expressed doubt the Government would this time remove the powerful commander - although it may censure him.

New Zealand deputy high commissioner to Fiji Joanna Kempkers said the military split appeared to be one between the two senior officers, rather than reflecting a wider division in the armed forces.

She believed it "unlikely" that politicians had encouraged Colonel Baledrokadroka to act as he did.

The commission would be carefully watching the outcome of today's meeting, hosted by Vice-President Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi, and might seek a briefing from the Fijian Government afterwards.

Colonel Baledrokadroka - who called over the weekend for a New Zealander or an Australian to head the military - predicted that Commodore Bainimarama would back down.

"If they ask Frank to step down they will have to work out a plan to get him out of the country. They will probably send him to New Zealand - he has family there."

However, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters yesterday refused to give credence to this suggestion.

"I'm astonished anybody would take such a comment seriously. I'm not going to react to that sort of nonsense."

Commodore Bainimarama yesterday shut himself in the Queen Elizabeth Barracks, where he is surrounded by heavily armed bodyguards. He was refusing to talk publicly.

Colonel Baledrokadroka has been allowed to roam Fiji freely without yet being subject to investigation.

It has also emerged the New Zealand Defence Force attache in Suva has met Colonel Baledrokadroka in a bid to discover the current strength of Fiji's military and the cause of the tensions.

Colonel Baledrokadroka said: "You could sit the New Zealand Defence Force rapid deployment force in the harbour and take this country. We could only sustain fighting for two days."

Military attaches for Australia and the United States have also visited the dumped Army boss.

"There are a lot of [military] people having sleepless nights in New Zealand and Australia. They have been assessing the risk," he said.

The rivals

Frank Bainimarama
* Head of the Fijian military.
* Threatened last week to remove the Government.
* Claims his deputy, Jone Baledrokadroka, threatened to shoot him last week.

Jone Baledrokadroka
* Former Army chief, forced to quit by Bainimarama last week.
* Claims Bainimarama is moving his men into key positions.
* Also claims Bainimarama told senior officers they must rescue him if he was arrested by the Government.