Shooting of rebels recharges Fiji's political tension

By TONY WALL and PATRICK GOWER

A gunfight that left seven George Speight supporters wounded and a mutiny at an Army base deepened Fiji's political turmoil yesterday.

The 15-minute gunfight near the perimeter of the parliamentary complex in Suva came just hours after Fiji's new indigenous Prime Minister, Laisenia Qarase, was sworn in.

It marked the first time since the coup on May 19 that Fijian Army soldiers had spilled the blood of rebels, some of whom are former colleagues from the Counter Revolutionary Warfare Unit, and civilian Speight supporters.

Five civilians and two rebel soldiers were shot. Both the rebel group and the military claimed the other side fired first.

Late last night, senior military officers travelled to the military camp at Labasa on the island of Vanua Levu to negotiate with three renegade soldiers who yesterday commandeered all the base's weapons.

The renegades, loyal to Speight and his cause, waited for the commanding officer to leave the camp then piled all the weapons on to a truck.

A spokesman for Speight's group, Joe Nata, told the Herald last night that the gunfight had "brought a whole new dimension to the situation in Fiji" and that the Army seemed "hell-bent" on a military solution.

"What we have always feared, and what we've tried to avoid, is crossfire between Fijians and it has now happened, we have injuries on our side."

The four injured rebels are understood to have leg and arm injuries.

Mr Nata said his group did not recognise the authority of the newly appointed civilian Government, or the military.

"This whole political crisis can only be resolved if the military comes back and talks to us. We are not budging from our position and any unilateral decision taken by them will be resisted by our people."

Mr Nata said the Army had begun an "unusual and excessive" presence around Parliament in the previous 48 hours.

"As late as [Monday night] they were told that they should instruct their people to move back because they were getting too close for our liking.

"They did not heed our warning. Today we were watching them and they were coming closer and closer to our parameters.

"The situation was tense; we asked our civilian security people to go and ask them to move away ... but they were shot at by the soldiers and that sparked off exchanges of gunfire by both parties."

He said grenades were also fired by rebels during the exchange.

Mr Nata said the hostages being held inside Parliament were reassured during the gunfight that they were safe.

"But any further action by the military will of course have an impact on the security and lives of the hostages. We have warned them - they should not take us lightly or call our bluff."

Army spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Filipo Tarakinikini played down the gunfight, saying the situation in Suva last night was stable.

"The incident was really unfortunate because the crowd's enthusiasm took over."

Colonel Tarakinikini said two soldiers were on patrol in the area and were spotted from inside Parliament.

"Then the crowd ran after them, so the soldiers ran back to where reinforcements were. The firing started from within the parliamentary complex in the direction of the soldiers."

He said a rebel pulled out a pistol and was about to shoot, so he was shot in the shoulder.

Meanwhile, downtown Labasa was deserted last night after shops closed and residents fled to the safety of their homes after the renegade soldiers seized the weapons.

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