FIJI'S defiant military chief refused to rule out overthrowing the South Pacific island nation's Government after delivering a series of demands today amid fears of a fourth coup in 20 years. Commodore Frank Bainimarama, who threatened last month to remove Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase if he did not drop two contentious pieces of legislation, said he would prefer to negotiate a settlement to a crisis which has dragged in Australia and New Zealand. Asked in Fijian and English what he would do if the Government failed to meet his demands, Commodore Bainimarama said: "We'll go back at them".Commodore Bainimarama also said he did not hold much hope for a meeting of the Great Council of Chiefs, the representatives of Fiji's 14 chiefly provinces who are the nation's ultimate powerbrokers, called for tomorrow in an effort to resolve the crisis. He said the council only ever meets "to suit the Government's agenda".
Commodore Bainimarama said the continuing speculation of more political upheaval was bad for the island nation's fragile tourism- and sugar-based economy, which suffered after a May 2000 coup by armed indigenous nationalists.