Gunfire heard from inside Fiji's army barracks

Suva, Dec 9: Fiji's military chief was still in control of the country but his whereabouts were being concealed for security reasons, an army spokeswoman said after reports of gunfire from the main barracks of the capital, Suva, today.

Commander Frank Bainimarama staged a bloodless coup on Tuesday, toppling the government of Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase, claiming it was corrupt and soft on those behind the last coup in 2000. Fiji has had four coups since 1987.

Bainimarama was almost killed in a bloody, but failed mutiny following the 2000 coup. The military chief was forced to escape from the Suva barracks over a fence and into bushes.

A Reuters witness and local residents heard sustained gunfire today in the Queen Elizabeth barracks on a hilltop overlooking Suva and said it continued for about 30 minutes.

Military spokesman Major Neumi Leweni later confirmed firing inside the barracks but said it was an unscheduled shooting exercise and that people should not be alarmed.

The barracks has no rifle range and firing practice is normally done at a range on the other side of the city.

Shortly after the shooting, witnesses said soldiers manning roadblocks around the barracks were calm and traffic was moving freely. Fiji radio led news bulletins with sports items, relegating the shooting to lower down.

The rest of Suva remained tense but calm today after the former British colony had its Commonwealth membership suspended overnight in protest at the coup. Fiji was suspended from the Commonwealth after the 2000 coup and the two 1987 coups.

Mninisters Wanted

Qarase and Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer have both hinted of splits within the military, but there has been no evidence of divisions. Qarase failed to sack Bainimarama last month when senior officers backed their commander.

But opposition to the coup is growing steadily, with the South Pacific island nation's traditional chiefs and churches calling it illegal.

Qarase remains defiant and predicts that Fijians will soon take to the streets in protest at the coup. Qarase was taken by soldiers to his home village in Fiji's remote east but says he plans to return to Suva next week.

The military has vowed to use force to put down opposition.

Bainimarama has declared himself acting president and has appointed an interim prime minister, a 77-year-old former army doctor and Methodist lay preacher.

Fiji's military took out newspaper advertisements today seeking people of ''outstanding character'' to fill cabinet posts in an interim government.

''The Acting President ... wishes to advise the public on the need to form an interim government to run the affairs of our beloved country,'' said the advertisement.

''The President further wishes to emphasise the need to run such affairs with the aim of ridding Fiji from corruption and bad practices and to provide good governance,'' it said. ''Applicants must be of outstanding character and without any criminal records.'

Opposition Grows

But Bainimarama's attempts to form an interim government have been frustrated by opposition from Fiji's Great Council of Chiefs, the traditional authority which represents 14 chiefly provinces and appoints the president.

The chiefs have resisted Bainimarama's attempts to get it to meet to endorse the reinstatement of President Ratu Josefa Iloilo, the first step toward naming an interim government.

The coup has brought international condemnation, with Australia, New Zealand, Britain and the United States imposing economic and defence sanctions.

''We are confident that many people see this as a very unpopular coup,'' Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon told reporters in London. ''We always remain a little pessimistic that, despite the fact that this was a bloodless coup, they don't always remain that way.''

Reuters