People walk past a newspaper stand in Suva yesterday with local papers that have a photograph of Fijian Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase on the front page. Qarase was on a collision course with the military yesterday, raising fears of a fourth coup in the South Pacific island nation in 20 years. Qarase has rejected army demands to withdraw two contentious pieces of legislation or quit. He said in a national address on Wednesday there was no question of him stepping down. - Reuters

SUVA, (Reuters):

FIJI'S PRIME minister was on a collision course with the military yesterday, raising fears of a fourth coup in 20 years, as police and the army increased their presence in the South Pacific island nation's capital.

Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase has rejected army demands to withdraw two contentious pieces of legislation or quit, while the army has rebuffed an attempt by Qarase to sack outspoken military commander Frank Bainimarama.

Bainimarama said Qarase would bear the responsibility if Fiji suffered its fourth coup since 1987, but police in turn are investigating whether Bainimarama's threats to remove the man he installed as interim leader after a 2000 coup were seditious.

"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," Bainimarama, who is due to return from a Middle East visit within a week, told Radio New Zealand.

The nation's political volatility stems mainly from divisions between indigenous Fijians who fear losing political power to ethnic Indians who dominate the economy.

Indigenous Fijians make up about 51 per cent of the 906,000 population in the former British colony once known as 'the Cannibal Isles'.

The May 2000 coup by armed Fijian nationalists devastated the tourism and sugar-based economy and Qarase has said more upheaval in the former British colony would be "a disaster."

With a crucial budget speech to be delivered in parliament on Friday and armed troops planning exercises around the capital, Australia updated its travel warning for Fiji late yesterday, telling nationals to reconsider the need to travel to Suva and to avoid demonstrations and public gatherings.

"You should also avoid prominent government buildings, such as the National Parliament, as well as military installations and concentrations of military personnel," the warning said.