Fiji military hunt down rebels after Army mutiny leaves up to 11 dead

Fiji military hunt down rebels after Army mutiny leaves up to 11 dead
AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE

SUVA, NOV 3: Twelve rebels were under arrest on Friday and upto 11 soldiers dead after a bloody mutiny at the army barracks here was put down as Fiji's military searched for escaped mutineers, amid a strict curfew.

``We're going to keep the momentum going with the search. The rebels are armed and we thought it best to keep the population off the streets today so that we can continue unhindered,'' army spokesman Major Howard Politini said. Some 24 people were in hospital, six of them civilians wounded by shrapnel and stray bullets as an uneasy calm settled over the Fiji capital Suva, where a tight curfew is in force after sporadic gunfire throughout the night.

Politini said the death-toll was eight although Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, quoting staff at Australia's High Commission (embassy) in Suva, said it had risen to 11.

About 40 rebels seized control of key operations at the Queen Elizabeth Barracks on Thursday, taking five officers hostage. A swift counterattack by the military Thursday night freed the hostages and captured 11 of the mutineers, but 20 armed insurgents escaped and were believed to be hiding in jungles around the barracks.

Politini would not confirm reports that captured rebel soldiers had been beaten up before being taken to hospital. The mutineers, several of whom Downer said, were members and supporters of the Counter Revolutionary Warfare (CRW) unit involved in the May coup here led by George Speight, also attacked the home of Army Commander Frank Bainimarama, although Politini on Friday played down the incident.

``Someone fired a few shots at an empty house,'' Politini said, although residents in the area said heavy gunfire was heard ``for quite some time''. Bainimarama, who fled the barracks at the height of the rebel assault, was on Friday in a safe house with his family.

Heavy security also surrounded the home of interim Prime minister Laisenia Qarase, appointed following the Speight uprising, who in a television address vowed to hunt down the perpetrators. ``You have my word justice will be done,'' he said.

Neighbours of Qarase, who had been ordered to stay indoors and away from windows in the event of further gunfire, said the area was crawling with soldiers. Politini maintained the insurgency was aimed at the Army and not the government or civilian population and that there was no imminent threat to the interim administration, although he admitted the rebels had given no indication as to why they mounted the assault.

``We have to find out what is the motive behind these people doing this,'' he said. He added that it remained unclear who the rebels' leader was but the core of the group were soldiers of the CRW, a crack force created by former prime minister Major General Sitiveni Rabuka. Rabuka had been called to the barracks Thursday evening by the rebels to mediate on their behalf but the Army, about to launch an assault, refused to negotiate.

Eight of the mutineers had been charged with treason along with Speight and were only released from the island prison of Nukulau on bail a week ago after charges against them were withdrawn.