Fiji army accuses Australia of sovereignty breach

SUVA, Nov 5 (Reuters) Fiji's military, locked in a standoff with the government, accused Australia today of breaching its sovereignty by sending an unspecified number of police it described as mercenaries into the country.

Land Force Commander Colonel Pita Driti said the Australian police arrived in Fiji last Friday on a flight from Sydney as part of ''an inter-police force involvement'' under Fiji Police Commissioner Andrew Hughes, an Australian.

Driti also said the officers were whisked through immigration in the western city of Nadi without going through proper channels and were accompanied by 400 kg of unspecified equipment ''in strong silver boxes''.

''We will not accept any foreign intervention,'' Driti told reporters in the military's Queen Elizabeth Barracks headquarters on the outskirts of the capital Suva.

No response was immediately available from Hughes or the police.

Australia and New Zealand have been rattled by the standoff between Fiji's military and government, which has raised fears of a fourth coup in 20 years.

Outspoken military Commander Frank Bainimarama has warned Fiji Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase to drop two contentious pieces of legislation or be removed from office.

Australia last week said it was sending two navy ships towards Fiji in case it needed to evacuate some of the 7,000 Australians holidaying in Fiji. It added the ships would not enter Fijian territory without being asked.

Driti accused Australia of over-reacting to what Qarase has described as a national crisis.

He likened the Australian police to Papua New Guinea's infamous 1997 ''Sandline'' affair, when then Prime Minister Sir Julius Chan tried to use British mercenary firm Sandline International to quash a 9-year revolt on Bougainville island.

The revolt ousted the mercenaries, forced Chan to step down and triggered looting and mass protests in Port Moresby.

Driti also said a handful of New Zealand police sent by Wellington to beef up security at its diplomatic offices in Fiji did not have a ''mandate'' to exercise authority in the country.

Australia was heavily criticised at the Pacific Islands Forum in Fiji last month and was accused of being a regional bully over a diplomatic row with the Solomon Islands and PNG.

The row was sparked when the Solomons appointed as its chief legal officer a man wanted in Australia on child sex charges.

REUTERS PB BST1408