KEY POINTS:
SUVA - Fiji's government and dignitaries are gathering in the national parliament today as armed troops conduct exercises on the streets of the capital amid fears of a fourth coup in 20 years.
Finance Minister Ratu Jone Kubuabola will deliver a crucial budget speech in a parliament building with a traditional steeply pitched roof and ornate lacquered wood interior, the scene of the last coup by armed nationalists in May 2000.
Vice-President Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi and deputy head of the military Captain Esala Teleli will join Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase for the speech after weeks of threats and counter-threats between the government and Fiji's armed forces.
Police threw a tight cordon around the sprawling complex early on Friday.
The embattled Qarase is trying to stare down a demand by military chief Frank Bainimarama that he drop two contentious pieces of legislation or leave office, and has refused to quit.
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The military has rebuffed an attempt by Qarase to have the outspoken Bainimarama replaced.
Bainimarama told Radio New Zealand yesterday: "The last thing we want to do is have violence, the last thing we want to do is have bloodshed, but Qarase is pointing us in that direction."
But the commodore, who is inspecting Fijian troops in the Middle East, said the military had no intention of taking power if the Government did not agree to its demands or step down.
"The military is not going to mount another coup."
Police Commissioner Andrew Hughes said he did not believe the military planned a coup, predicting instead a war of words and brinkmanship.
The police have been investigating the commodore's threats to force the Government to resign for several weeks, and Mr Hughes warned yesterday that charges of sedition and treason were on the table.
However, police would be unlikely to approach the commodore as soon as he returned to Fiji, as a sudden arrest might fuel the tension.
"We may look at other less provocative, less confrontational options than a straight-out arrest, but he will be invited for an interview. The point I'm making is that we are not going to back down."
The gathering in parliament will take place as soldiers conduct annual drills around the capital. A military spokesman said the public had nothing to fear from the exercises.
Bainimarama has stepped up his attacks on Qarase, whom he installed as interim leader after declaring martial law to end the 2000 coup.
He is upset that Qarase has been too lenient on the perpetrators of that coup, and a failed but bloody mutiny six months later, by backing a bill that would grant some amnesties.
Police said on Thursday they were investigating Bainimarama to determine whether his threats against Qarase were seditious.
Meanwhile, Australia's Defence Minister Brendan Nelson has rejected suggestions Australia is engaging in gunboat diplomacy in sending two warships to Fiji.
Two ships, the HMAS Kanimbla and HMAS Newcastle, have left Australia and are sailing for South Pacific waters.
There are about 7000 Australians living or holidaying in Fiji.
When asked by ABC radio today if Australia was engaging in "gunboat diplomacy", Dr Nelson said Australian ships would not enter Fijian waters unless they were given the green light to evacuate Australian citizens.
He denied that the ships had been sent to deter the Fijian military from staging a coup.
"It should not be seen as anything provocative at all by anybody. In fact, what it should be seen as is sensible planning in the unlikely event that some assistance with evacuation is required," Dr Nelson said.
"If it has any impact at all on Commodore Bainimarama then, hopefully, it will be to discourage him and to reinforce the view put to him by (Australian defence force chief) Air Chief Marshall Angus Houston that he should not proceed with his stated intentions of overthrowing, through a coup, the democratically elected government."
HMAS Newcastle left Australia on Wednesday and HMAS Kanimbla left Australia last night.
Dr Nelson said Kanimbla had on board "a number of soldiers", a medical team, an evacuation unit and helicopters.
"In the unlikely event that some kind of assistance is necessary to evacuate Australians or other nationals, then at least we are well prepared," Dr Nelson said.
- REUTERS / AAP
Trouble in paradise
What's It All About?
The Reconciliation, Tolerance and Unity Bill, proposed by Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase last year, aims to grant amnesty to those involved in the coup on May 19, 2000, that toppled the Chaudhry Government.
The bill would allow coup leader George Speight, who is serving a life sentence for treason, to be released. Qarase has merged his party with Speight's Fijian Conservative Alliance.
Opposition to the bill's amnesty clause has come mainly from the military chief and the Fijian police force, saying it would be seen to condone the coup and could lead to further political instability in the islands.
The bill was shelved last year but Qarase, who won a second term in elections in May, wants to reintroduce it.
Rising tensions
October 17, 2006 - Military chief Commodore Frank Bainimarama gives Qarase an ultimatum to drop plans for the amnesty deal or be forced from office.
Tuesday - President Ratu Josefa Iloilo summons Lieutenant-Colonel Ratu Meli Saubulinayau and asks him to replace Bainimarama, who is visiting Fijian troops in the Middle East. Saubulinayau declines.
Wednesday - Qarase goes on national radio to repeat his refusal to resign. Bainimarama, expected back in Fiji this week, says he will remove the Prime Minister on his return. Troops seize tonnes of ammunition as political and security leaders meet amid fears of a coup. Australia places two warships on standby to evacuate its citizens.
Yesterday - Police are investigating Bainimarama, saying his threats to unseat the Government may have breached the country's sedition laws. But Fiji Police Commander, Australian Andrew Hughes, says he won't immediately arrest Bainimarama when he returns because it would be seen as a "provocative" act.
History of coups
Since 1987 Fiji has suffered three coups and a failed mutiny. The coups were racially fuelled, with indigenous Fijians fearful of losing political control to ethnic Indians, who dominate the sugar- and tourism-based economy.
Fiji adopted a multi-racial constitution in 1998, creating a 71-seat race-based Parliament. Labour Party leader Mahendra Chaudhry became Fiji's first ethnic Indian Prime Minister in 1999 but was overthrown in a nationalist coup in 2000.
