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Helen Clark phoned Fiji's Prime Minister, Laisenia Qarase, to offer him New Zealand's support yesterday as Suva's military commander warned of "bloodshed" and police threatened to charge him with treason.
Despite the sabre-rattling, Helen Clark said Mr Qarase had told her "things were a little calmer today and
he has been talking to the acting commander of the Fiji Military Force".
Mr Qarase was reported as saying later that the "security situation is normal" and there were no indications a coup would be mounted.
In an interview with Radio NZ, he maintained that 90 per cent of the population supported the Government and signalled further room for compromise on the two pieces of legislation the armed forces opposed.
>>Two bills at heart of Fiji coup tension
Despite reports to the contrary, Mr Qarase said the controversial Reconciliation, Toleration and Unity Bill had already been amended to get rid of a clause creating an amnesty for participants in the 2000 coup.
The second piece of contentious legislation would restore the foreshore and seabed to indigenous Fijians.
The head of the military, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, was reported as saying: "The last thing we want to do is have violence, the last thing we want to do is have bloodshed, but Qarase is pointing us in that direction."
But the commodore, who is inspecting Fijian troops in the Middle East, said the military had no intention of taking power if the Government did not agree to its demands or step down.
"The military is not going to mount another coup."
Police Commissioner Andrew Hughes said he did not believe the military planned a coup, predicting instead a war of words and brinkmanship.
The police have been investigating the commodore's threats to force the Government to resign for several weeks, and Mr Hughes warned yesterday that charges of sedition and treason were on the table.
However, police would be unlikely to approach the commodore as soon as he returned to Fiji, as a sudden arrest might fuel the tension.
"We may look at other less provocative, less confrontational options than a straight-out arrest, but he will be invited for an interview. The point I'm making is that we are not going to back down."
Tension mounted this week after President Ratu Josefa Iloilo unsuccessfully tried to remove the commodore.
Mr Qarase also rejected the military's calls to resign and on Wednesday called on the Great Council of Chiefs to mediate.
The council, which appoints the President, has a constitutional role and has mediated in past coups.
Commodore Bainimarama reacted negatively to the move to involve the council, which represents indigenous Fijians and which had called for the legislation he opposes.
Council chairman Ratu Ovini Bokini yesterday welcomed the invitation to mediate, saying the council had resolved past conflicts.
New Zealand High Commissioner Michael Green said that by asking the chiefs for input, Mr Qarase was effectively implying further concessions on the bills might be possible. It was a "gesture" which would give him further "manoeuvrability" with the commodore.
But he said that even if this standoff was resolved, the personal antipathy between the commodore and Mr Qarase meant the trouble would continue.
