Noon Deadline For Fiji

FIJI'S military commander Frank Bainimarama has threatened to overthrow the Government at noon today after declaring that concessions offered by the Prime Minister were not good enough. Hours after the Prime Minister appeared to almost completely surrender to Commodore Bainimarama's demands, the renegade military chief declared he was still not satisfied.

"We have given the Government until tomorrow afternoon to answer to our demands," he told a media conference in the capital, Suva, late yesterday. "If by tomorrow afternoon they have not answered to our demands, then we will take as given that we have been endorsed to do the cleaning up campaign in Fiji. "We hope this is going to be a peaceful transition, because we don't expect any confrontation nor do we expect any opposition. We will look after everybody in Fiji."

The threat sent residents in Suva streaming into supermarkets to stockpile supplies, and cash machines were beginning to run dry. It came two hours after Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase promised measures he hoped would avert Fiji's fourth coup in 20 years. In a televised address to the nation, Mr Qarase said he was willing to move on some of the military's demands. Three contentious bills the military demanded be scrapped — including one that would grant amnesty to those involved in Fiji's 2000 coup — would be reviewed, Mr Qarase said. Commodore Bainimarama said he wanted the bills dropped straight away and that the other concessions Mr Qarase had made were not good enough. He said the Government had not "cleaned itself up" and that if it did not do it, "we will do it for them". Commodore Bainimarama has been at odds with the Qarase Government for months and has survived an attempt by Mr Qarase to remove him from office while he was overseas. He was facing possible charges of sedition for threatening earlier this year to overthrow the Government.

On Wednesday Mr Qarase made a rushed trip to New Zealand to speak to Commodore Bainimarama, and later proclaimed the meeting had been a success. But yesterday Commodore Bainimarama described the meeting as "a failure". He said he was aware of a possibility of foreign troops intervening in his country's affairs and that his troops were prepared for it.