Heavily armed Fijian troops put up roadblocks throughout the capital last night and took weapons from key police installations as fears of a fourth coup in 20 years gripped the South Pacific nation.

Dozens of troops set up roadblocks in and around Suva, completely blocking some roads but allowing traffic to pass along others, a witness said.

Truckloads of armed soldiers earlier left military headquarters in Suva and embattled Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase was forced to fly by helicopter back into Suva due a roadblock.

The army kept up the pressure on Qarase when he was later summoned to President Ratu Josefa Iloilo's residence.

Qarase drove to the sprawling harbourside estate but was told by soldiers at a roadblock outside that he would have to walk the rest of the way, a witness inside the grounds said.

Qarase, whose bodyguards were also disarmed by the military, refused and returned to his office.

Fiji's military chief has threatened to topple Qarase's government over a long list of grievances and accuses it of being too soft on those behind Fiji's last coup in 2000.

"Security forces will be out there and will ensure the security of all the people of Fiji," Commander Frank Bainimarama said at a news conference inside the main Suva barracks.

Bainimarama did not say he was taking over the country, but said that police weapons were confiscated so that "dissidents" did not use them against the military.

Earlier yesterday armed troops seized weapons from the police tactical response unit, the only armed police group, and entered a second police armoury.

"There will be no violent confrontation with the military, they are armed, we are not armed," Fiji's Acting Police Commissioner Moses Driver told a news conference in Suva.

Bainimarama has said he will "clean out" Qarase's government, which was re-elected in May for a second five-year term, but that it will be a peaceful transition.

Qarase told Fiji radio yesterday morning that he remained in control and has called an emergency cabinet meeting for today.

Fiji has suffered three coups and a bloody since 1987.

Resistance

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said the military was trying to "slowly take control" in what amounted to a coup by stealth.

"My guess is that within the military there is a fair bit of resistance to these tactics and quite a lot of resistance to a coup. There isn't an inclination to mutiny against the commander, so it's a torturously complicated situation," Downer told Australian radio.

There was no obvious signs of a split in the military.

The police and the hugely influential Great Council of Chiefs called for calm. "I think fear has started to emerge with the public at large," said acting police commissioner Driver.

The Fiji Daily Post said Bainimarama had drawn up a 13-member interim cabinet to be led by an unidentified member of Qarase's government. It quoted unidentified sources as saying that the list included two former prime ministers and that Bainimarama had chosen a portfolio for himself.

Source: China Daily