KEY POINTS:
Fiji's military chief should accept the decision of the country's government to sack him and step down, Prime Minister Helen Clark says.
Simmering tension between Fiji's government and the military climbed another notch yesterday after reports senior military leaders had refused a presidential decision to sack their commander
Frank Bainimarama.
Australia has issued a new travel warning to its citizens - advising caution in the wake of the developments - but New Zealand officials have kept an upgrade on hold while they monitor events today.
Helen Clark today called on Bainimarama, who is overseas visiting Fijian troops, to step down on his return.
She said Fiji's government was legitimately elected and appeared to have followed proper process in its bid to oust the outspoken military chief.
"The strong advice we have is the commander must himself follow the Fiji constitution," she said.
"One would have thought that if the president seeks to suspend him then those orders from a legitimate government should be followed."
Helen Clark said Bainimarama had set himself up as a self-styled defender of the constitution, but was undercutting his own stance by failing to follow that constitution.
She said officials would reassess New Zealand's travel advice this morning, but it would not be changed on a "whim".
Australia had a five-point system and had moved to level two of that. New Zealand had a three-point system and was currently on the bottom rung. Moving to the second rung would raise New Zealand's warning level above that on Australia, she said.
Helen Clark said the timing of the attempt to sack Bainimarama - while he is overseas - was irrelevant as long as proper constitutional processes had been followed.
If Bainimarama wanted to play politics then he needed to get out of the military as his current stance on the constitution was "quite bizarre".
"If you want to be a player in any political system you should go into politics and you shouldn't be doing it from the military."
Fijian media reports yesterday said Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase asked President Ratu Josefa Iloilo to authorise Bainimarama's sacking following a series of threats against his government.
Earlier this month, Bainimarama threatened to force Qarase to resign unless he dropped two contentious bills, one which will offer amnesty to some of those involved in a 2000 coup.
Senior military personnel have continued to call on Qarase to stand down.
Yesterday, senior military officers refused to accept the presidential decision to oust Bainimarama.
A senior commander said Lt Colonel Meli Saubulinayau was called to the president's office today, where he was offered Bainimarama's job.
But Saubulinayau declined, saying he did not command the support of the military, online news service Fijilive.com reported.
In response, Qarase has said he will deal with Bainimarama when the military chief returns from overseas.
Bainimarama is currently in Egypt and will head to Iraq before returning to Fiji later this week or early next week.
Fiji Police Commissioner Andrew Hughes, an Australian, has also stepped into the standoff - withholding an ammunition shipment intended for the army.
Mr Hughes has said he won't release a consignment of about 7.5 tonnes of bullets from Suva's wharves until he's "satisfied that it will not be used against the government in any forceful threat or move to have them resign".
Mr Hughes yesterday met with acting military commander Captain Esala Teleni about the ammunition issue but the outcome of those talks is not yet known.
Bainimarama has warned Mr Hughes he could cause a "disaster" if he continues to withhold the shipment.
- NZPA / AAP
