Coup under way, Fiji leader says

SUVA, Fiji — Fiji's elected leader said Tuesday a military takeover was under way in the South Pacific country as armed troops surrounded his house and other government buildings in a lockdown of the capital.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard said he refused a request from Fiji's besieged prime minister Tuesday for "military intervention" to end the coup. New Zealand called the coup an "outrage" and said it was cutting military ties with Fiji, the first international sanctions.

Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase said it was not clear who was in control of his tiny country after heavily armed soldiers set up checkpoints around the capital, Suva, and seized official vehicles from government ministers. The prime minister said he was not able to leave his house and go to work because troops took his car.

"There are some things that aren't clear," Qarase told the Legend radio network by telephone, when he was asked if he was still in charge. "If the military has completed the takeover, then they are in control. If they have not completed the takeover, then we are still the government of the day."

He said he had received information that troops would take him into custody sometime Tuesday, though he said that was unconfirmed.

Qarase turned to Australia for help in preventing a full military takeover.

"The prime minister of Fiji rang me and asked for Australian military intervention in response to the coup," the Australian prime minister told reporters. "I indicated to him that that would not be possible."

Earlier, about 40 troops carrying semiautomatic rifles set up guard posts around the prime minister's house on Tuesday but left in trucks after about an hour.

"There is virtually a coup now taking place," Qarase told New Zealand's National Radio.

He again refused to meet military commander Commodore Frank Bainimarama's key demand that he resign, saying it would be illegal to quit under threat of ouster. Qarase said President Ratu Josefa Iloilo had conveyed a message to him that he should give in to other demands from Bainimarama or resign. Qarase said he expected to meet the president later Tuesday.

Bainimarama wants the government to kill legislation that would grant pardons to conspirators in a 2000 coup, and eliminate other bills he says unfairly favor indigenous Fijians. He has demanded the police tactical unit be disbanded, and that sedition investigations against senior military officers be dropped.

Qarase has offered to suspend the contentious bills, but says he cannot agree to any demands that go outside the law.