Fiji calming down
Fijian Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase has softened his stand on two contentious issues that caused Fijian Military Commander Frank Bainimarama to attempt to remove the Prime Minister from office, raising fears of the fourth coup in twenty years and potentially devastating the booming Fijian tourism industry.
The Fijian military chief returned from overseas on Saturday and met his senior officers on Sunday three weeks after warning Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase to drop two contentious pieces of legislation or he would be forced from office.
Prime Minister Qarase said on Saturday that elements of the legislation that would have given amnesties to some of those behind the May 2000 coup had been dropped from one of the bills.
Military spokesman Major Neumi Leweni responded saying that Commander Bainimarama was gathering his senior officers for talks at the Queen Elizabeth Barracks headquarters outside Suva before responding.
It was expected that some action might be taken against the military chief when he returned from overseas on Saturday, with reports now saying that PM Qarase intends having have talks with Bainimarama early this week, before a meeting of the Great Council of Chiefs, which represents Fiji’s fourteen provinces run by chiefs who are the nation’s ultimate powerbrokers and who have been called upon to find a solution to the crisis.
Suva remains calm, but police have increased their presence around the capital and armed troops increased tension by holding exercises on Friday, with reports this morning saying that armed Australian military and police had secretly entered the country over the weekend with a range of equipment.
Report by The Mole
John Alwyn-Jones
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