SUVA, Fiji (6 Dec 2006) -- Fijian troops will quickly suppress any uprising, the military chief warned on Wednesday as the country's deposed prime minister called for non-violent protests after the South Pacific nation's fourth coup in 20 years. Opponents of Tuesday's bloodless coup by Commander Frank Bainimarama were gradually rounded up. Armed troops surrounded the parliament and interrupted senators as they debated a motion condemning the toppling of Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase. "We have reasonable grounds to believe that the life of the state is being threatened," Bainimarama said as he proclaimed a state of emergency and dissolved parliament. "Should we be pushed to use force, let me state that we will do so very quickly," he told reporters, adding that "Qarase and his cronies are not coming back". Bainimarama's coup, which has drawn outrage abroad, came after a year-long power struggle with the mild-mannered Qarase, whom he accuses of corruption and being too soft on those behind Fiji's last coup in 2000. Bainimarama said the planned appointment of a caretaker government "is now put on hold" because the Great Council of Chiefs, the influential group of tribal leaders who appoint the president, said they had canceled a scheduled meeting next week amid growing opposition to the coup. Military doctor Jona Baravilala Senilagakali, a Methodist lay preacher and political novice, was sworn in as caretaker prime minister at military headquarters. "I work for the army. I'm obliged to do whatever my commander tells me to do," Baravilala told reporters. He gave no timetable for fresh elections. Qarase was taken by soldiers before sunrise and flown back to his home island in Fiji's remote east. Re-elected for a second term in May, Qarase has called for Fijians to stand up for democracy and expects non-violent demonstrations within days. Hundreds of Fijians rallied outside his Suva home as the coup played out on Tuesday. "My assessment is that about 99 percent of our population wants democracy," he told Australian radio, adding that the will of the people "is stronger than the power of the gun". Australia and New Zealand have called for people power to restore democracy to Fiji. "I think the ordinary people of Fiji and the institutions of government in Fiji should show passive resistance to this imposition of dictatorship on their country," Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer told his parliament. As domestic and international support swung behind Qarase, soldiers began detaining key public servants, including the acting police commissioner, the speaker of the parliament and Qarase's private secretary. Judges met despite the military round-up and vowed that courts would remain open and that the rule of law must be upheld. The coup has been condemned around the world and is expected to have catastrophic effects on Fiji's delicate economy, based on tourism and an outdated sugar industry, just as Fiji's three earlier coups had. Fiji's central bank tightened foreign exchange controls on Wednesday in fear of a currency run. It said in a statement the measures were necessary "to ensure that reserves are safeguarded under the current circumstances". | 
