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Fiji Faces Fourth Coup in Two Decades

Fiji`s military leader, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, announced Saturday, that he is responsible of all that takes place in the country. Prime Minister, Laisenia Qarase, returned to the capitol Suva in order to try to stop the coup. Qarase said he still hopes that the coup, the fourth the country has seen in the past two decades, could be reverted through dialog with the military leader. When asked whether he thinks he`ll be running the country next week Qarase replied: "I will do my best to stay in office for the next four and a half years."

On the other hand, Commodore Bainimarama said: "If Mr Qarase does not give way to the Republic of Fiji Military Force, he will have nowhere to go in Fiji." He added that Mr Qarase had gone out of hidning and returned to Suva only because "the army told him to".
"He is not the commander. I am the commander," he said. "We`ll find out. But nobody should be scared of anything. The military is here to look after everyone." The military has yet to decide when it is going to oust the government but sources in the military say that it will take place within a week.

The events took place after Bainimarama threatened to collapse Qarase`s democratically elected government if it will not persist some controversial legislation it has initiated. Two weeks ago Bainimarama handed the government a list of demands alongside a timetabled ultimatum. Both the Australian and New Zealand published travel warnings to its citizens urging them not to travel to Fiji, as well as, calling citizens already in Fiji to leave the island state for security reasons.