Leaders prepare for talks aimed at averting coup

(5 Nov 2006)
1. Set-up of Lieutenant Colonel Pita Driti sitting down for news briefing
2. SOUNDBITE: (English) Lieutenant Colonel Pita Driti, Fiji's land force commander:
"The RFMF (Republic of Fiji Military Forces) would like highlight a gross breach of sovereignty and independence with arrival in Fiji onboard an Air Pacific flight FJ-910 from Sydney last Friday, that was Friday night, of Australian nationals. The manner in which they were greeted at the Nadi airport, and they were taken without being cleared by the appropriate authorities, under police escort, is a serious matter and one that should be addressed very urgently."
++JUMP CUT++
3. SOUNDBITE: (English) Lieutenant Colonel Pita Driti, Fiji's land force commander:
"The RFMF would like to remind the public that this is a repetition of the events that took place in PNG, Papua New Guinea, a few years ago, known as the Sandline episode. And the RFMF takes this opportunity to warn those in authority: be careful and not to ruin this country. The RFMF reminds everyone that it is the last bastion of law and order in this country."
4. Driti leaving
STORYLINE:
Fiji's military promised on Sunday not to stage a coup but issued a stern warning to civilian authorities not to "ruin" the troubled Pacific Island
nation.
A military spokesman accused the country's police commissioner of bringing Australian and New Zealand police into the country illegally to bolster police forces as tensions between the government and armed forces escalated last week.
"The RFMF takes this opportunity to warn those in authority - be careful and do not to ruin this country," Lieutenant Colonel Pita Driti told a news conference, using the military forces' acronym.
Driti said the events were a repetition of the Sandline affair in 1997, which involved a so-called private military company in Papua New Guinea.
"The RFMF reminds everyone that it is the last bastion of law and order in this country," he said.
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