By NAOMI LARKIN in Suva
Like a small boy showing off his toys, Fiji coup leader George Speight eagerly pointed out the machine-guns, grenade launchers, handguns and M16s used to hold his captives, and his country, to ransom.
"These are the guns that were used by our people to protect this complex," he said.
"Take their pictures. The military experts all around the world are very keen to work out what they are."
Later, he would let ordinary civilians roam past the arsenal neatly laid out in the room where, until Thursday, former Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry and his Indian ministers were held captive.
The low-ceilinged room, which more closely resembles a schoolroom with its brown tiled floor, concertina windows and fluorescent lights, had been home to the hostages for two months.
The Fijian ministers were held separately in the nearby Parliamentary Chambers.
On the floor alongside the guns were torches, coils of rope, black gloves, the camouflage clothing favoured by snipers, magazines for guns and knives. Ammunition cases were stacked against a wall.
The former Counter Revolutionary Warfare Unit founder and the tactical mastermind of the coup, Major Ilisoni Ligairi, said the weapons had been laid out for the Great Council of Chiefs to accept back on behalf of the military.
"We've finished the whole operation," he said. "Now I will go back to cassava farming."
After taking power with the barrel of these guns, Speight has fulfilled many things: he overthrew the democratically elected Chaudhry Government, won an amnesty for his men and saw Ratu Josefo Iloilo made President.
But last night there were hints that he might not get it all his own way now that the hostages have been released. The Great Council announced that the interim administration, put in place by the military, would continue to govern in a caretaker role.
Chairman Sitiveni Rabuka said: "I would not say that the nation or the Council of Chiefs capitulated to George Speight.
"Nobody wins a coup, nobody wins - the whole nation suffers. He's free to enjoy his self-perceived victory."
Major-General Rabuka said Speight's list of nominees for the Government had not been discussed at the two-day council meeting.
The return of the rebels' weapons was part of the Muanikau Accord signed by Speight and the former head of state, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, on Sunday.
Under the accord the 27 remaining hostages held by the rebels since May 19 were released and executive power handed over from the military to the new President.
But even as tensions in Fiji began easing yesterday - there was singing in Suva for the first time in weeks - the international community condemned political developments.
NZ Foreign Affairs Minister Phil Goff will outline possible sanctions against Fiji at Monday's cabinet meeting if an ultra-nationalist administration is named.
Speight said other countries should "butt out of Fiji's affairs."
Elsewhere Fiji was still nursing the scars of the past six weeks. At Naboro prison, the maximum security wing remained under the control of its inmates after a siege in another part of the complex ended with one prisoner shot dead and two others fighting for their lives.
Prisoners in the maximum security wing have been holding 26 guards hostage since Tuesday.
They are demanding an amnesty similar to the one granted to Speight.
Negotiations were underway in a bid to resolve the crisis peacefully.
The tourism sector has been hard-hit by turmoil and takeovers of hotel resorts this week.
The Canadian managers of Laucala Island Resort, who were beaten, bound and gagged by villagers for 24 hours before they were released on Thursday night, spoke yesterday for the first time.
Ric and Carol West said they were overpowered on Wednesday night by villagers armed with bush knifes and steel pipes. There were no guests at the resort.
The rebels drank the resort's liquor and stole its three guns.
Mrs West said: "Being lectured by drunks is not very nice and they had the company guns at the time."
Under seige: map of the Parliament complex