http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6115858.stm

Fiji PM meets army chief's demand

Cmdr Bainimarama has been at loggerheads with Mr Qarase

Fijian PM Laisenia Qarase has announced changes to a controversial law, meeting a key demand of the country's military chief who had urged him to resign.
Mr Qarase said the law would no longer offer an amnesty to plotters implicated in a brief coup six years ago.

Military chief Cmdr Frank Bainimarama had opposed the law and warned of violence if Mr Qarase did not quit.

Mr Qarase said he was ready to meet Cmdr Bainimarama and both men have downplayed fears of a possible coup.

Commodore Bainimarama has returned home after a visit to the Middle East, where he had been inspecting Fijian peacekeeping operations.

During his absence, Mr Qarase tried - but failed - to dismiss him from his post.

He has been holding talks with the acting military chief to resolve the dispute.

Mr Qarase said he was glad Cmdr Bainimarama was back in the country.

"It's good that he is back and I hope that he and I can talk as early as possible next week. I am ready to talk," he said.

He added that the planned law had been "substantially" changed.

"I want to say that quite categorically now that there is no longer an amnesty provision in the new bill."

While visiting Fijian peacekeeping troops in Egypt, Cmdr Bainimarama told Radio New Zealand that he wanted to avoid bloodshed but that it might be inevitable.

The prime minister has said he has no intention of resigning

"The last thing we want to do is have violence... But Qarase is pointing us in that direction," he said.

"The fact that he doesn't want to resign and the fact that he's called for the meeting of the Great Council of Chiefs means to the military that he's put us in a situation where there is going to be bloodshed and violence."

The prime minister rejected calls to resign and regional leaders, expressing deep concern over the prospects of a coup, rallied round the elected government.

The rift between the military and the government has been growing for months.

At the heart of the feud were the plans by the nationalist government to offer amnesties to those involved in a racially-motivated coup six years ago.

The proposal was bitterly opposed by Commodore Bainimarama, who was the main target of the mutiny, and was forced to flee for his life.

He also played a key role in putting down the uprising, and made clear that he does not feel the government has done enough to bring its perpetrators to justice.

[ 03 November 2006: Message edited by: Harry Chorpita ]

[ 03 November 2006: Message edited by: Harry Chorpita ]

Meantime, however, the Commander has not said he's satisfied and it's unlikely that he is. (That's what people call him, "the Commander".) And the Army has maintained its opposition to the government's referral of this dispute to the Great Council of Chiefs. They are, after all, the government, albeit it is the Army itself that is making governint less and less feasible.

And as if that weren't enough, today there is news that a secret police shipment has come from Australia. This matters because for the last month or two Pacific diplomacy has revolved around Australian "interference" in island affairs, and the Fiji Police Chief is an Australian. (Melanesian countries tend to prefer foreigners as police boss, since locals are under too much pressure from relatives & co-ethnics.)