SYDNEY - Australia’s Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said there is ‘clear evidence’ that Fiji’s maverick military chief is planning to stage a coup in the island nation within two weeks.‘There is clear evidence he is planning a coup in the next couple of weeks,’ Downer told ABC television’s Lateline programme late Thursday, referring to commander Voreqe Bainimarama. ‘He made a public statement along those lines and we are particularly concerned about that.’
Bainimarama earlier this week gave the government two weeks to meet a series of demands, but denied there would be a coup if the deadline was not met. The nine ‘non-negotiable’ demands reportedly include dropping police investigations into Bainimarama and the sacking of police commissioner Andrew Hughes.