Fiji splits widen

Divisions over Fiji's military takeover widened yesterday as powerful traditional chiefs and politicians split on whether to support the bloodless overthrow of the South Pacific island nation's government. The military received a further blow late yesterday when the Commonwealth, an association of mostly British former colonies, suspended Fiji's membership.

Deposed Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase remained defiant, calling on bureaucrats not to cooperate with the military. He appeared to concede his government was finished but, said he would return to the capital Suva next week.

"To be realistic, all the privileges of the prime minister have been taken away from me so... I'll be moving around as an ordinary person," Mr Qarase told local television from his village on Vanuabalavu island in Fiji's remote east.

Mr Qarase predicts there will be demonstrations against the takeover, but military commander Frank Bainimarama says his troops will quickly put down any opposition.

Mr Bainimarama has been systematically cleaning out Mr Qarase's administration and yesterday dozens of his troops raided the Finance Ministry and the offices of Ballu Khan, an IT and communications entrepreneur, taking away files and computers.

Mr Qarase was ousted on Tuesday after a year-long power struggle with Mr Bainimarama, who accused his government of being corrupt and too soft on the perpetrators of Fiji's last coup in 2000. It was Fiji's fourth coup in 20 years.

Fiji's Great Council of Chiefs (GCC), the traditional authority which represents 14 chiefly provinces and appoints the President, opposes the takeover as undemocratic and illegal.

Mr Bainimarama has been trying to get the council to meet to endorse the reinstatement of President Ratu Josefa Iloilo, the first step toward naming an interim government.

But chiefs have resisted and hundreds of villagers have blocked the entrance to Tavualevu village, home of GCC chairman Ratu Ovini Bokini, vowing to stop soldiers entering.

Fiji's Law Society warned members not to advise the military because the takeover was illegal. Some members of the teachers association protested at a meeting yesterday, holding up placards that read Stop raping democracy and Fiji, My Heart Bleeds for You.

One widely respected chief, Ratu Epeli Ganilau, has offered himself as a mediator between the military and the GCC.

"We all know it (the coup) is illegal but it is the lesser of two evils," said Mr Ganilau, a former head of the military and ex-GCC chairman who appointed Mr Bainimarama military chief in 1999.

Some observers saw his mediation offer as a thinly disguised bid to become President or head of the caretaker government.

Christian churches, which represent more than 80 per cent of indigenous Fijians, took out large newspaper advertisements yesterday to spell out their opposition to Mr Bainimarama.