Mutiny rumours put Fiji military on alert

SUVA - Fiji's military was on full alert yesterday and its commander had left Suva's defence force headquarters under heavy security because of rumours of a planned mutiny, military officials said.

Queen Elizabeth Barracks, the army headquarters, was being patrolled by armed soldiers and barricades were up at the entrance.

Many police and plain-clothed military personnel were out on the streets of the capital.

The Royal Fijian Military Forces (RFMF) said in a statement it went on full alert on Thursday after intelligence sources and the public reported rumours of a planned mutiny and unrest in Suva.

"The RFMF did go on full alert," the military said.

"Queen Elizabeth Barracks units were informed of the rumours and were advised to take any extra security measures they deemed necessary."

The statement said there had been no unrest.

An officer said defence commander Frank Bainimarama had left Queen Elizabeth Barracks and was under heavy security and the full-alert remained in force.

"The commander is under heavy security and his movements and whereabouts are controlled by his security section and military police," Captain Ned Taito told Reuters.

Bainimarama narrowly escaped from the Queen Elizabeth Barracks during a bloody, but unsuccessful mutiny last November.

Eight soldiers were killed and seven wounded as rebel soldiers tried to take over the barracks.

Thirty nine soldiers have been charged with mutiny.

Some of the rebel soldiers are believed to be among the gunmen who, along with failed businessman George Speight, stormed parliament on May 19, 2000, and toppled the government of Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry.

Speight ousted Chaudhry, Fiji's first ethnic Indian prime minister, in the name of indigenous rights.

Speight held Chaudhry and most of his multi-racial cabinet hostage for 56 days, releasing them only after the military agreed to install a Fijian-dominated caretaker government.

Speight now faces treason charges and is held on an island prison off Suva, while fresh election are scheduled for August.

Fiji's ethnic-Indians, who make up about 44 per cent of the country's 800,000 people and are descended from indentured labour shipped in by British colonial rulers, have long dominated the sugar- and tourism-based economy yet struggled for political power.

- REUTERS

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