Fiji army takes to streets

Coup supporters attempted to disarm soldiers on Saturday

The Fijian army has taken up strategic positions in the capital, Suva, and imposed a 48-hour curfew as the coup crisis deepens.

An unconfirmed report quoting diplomatic sources said the army chief Frank Bainimarama was preparing to take power.

Soldiers enforcing the curfew have been given "shoot to kill" orders, an army officer told the French news agency AFP, shortly after the curfew came into effect at 0600 GMT on Monday.

The army's action came after supporters of coup leader George Speight went on the rampage for a second time in two days.

The governments of Australia, New Zealand and the US told their citizens to leave the capital.

George Speight atttended a Sunday service in the parliament grounds

Reporters in Suva witnessed squads of soldiers setting up barricades at key installations, including fuel depots and radio and television stations.

The officer was the first person to be killed in the 10-day crisis, which began when Mr Speight and his supporters took over the country's parliament building, demanding that the ethnic Indian government be replaced.

More than 30 hostages were seized, including Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry, who was sacked by the president on Saturday in an attempt to end the crisis.

Evacuation plans

"The situation remains highly volatile and other similar disturbances could break out without notice," said a warning from the US embassy in Suva.

Australia said it was drawing up plans to evacuate its citizens from Fiji if necessary.

Immediate evacuation plans were also announced by the government of the Marshall Islands, to bring 63 of its citizens out of Fiji.

Fiji police are also warning ethnic Indians to leave Suva, according to the independent web site Fijilive.com.

A later statement on the web site said no further news updates would be possible because of the curfew.

Reservists called up

Some foreign journalists have also moved from Suva as the unrest deepens.

The curfew and army action came shortly after all reservists under the age of 55 were told to report to barracks.

Fijilive suspends news updates

There were also unconfirmed reports that a government soldier had been killed in the unrest.

The TV station is thought to have been targeted because it ran an interview with an opponent of the uprising who described its leader as selfish and arrogant.

The rebels are demanding a monopoly of political power for the country's indigenous population, at the expense of its large ethnic Indian community.

Coup plotters have rejected moves by President Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara to bring the crisis to an end.

The president sacked Mr Chaudhry on Saturday and hinted strongly at an amnesty for the rebels, but Mr Speight dismissed the offer as "the act of a desperate man".

The rebels have been demanding President Mara's resignation and a new constitution that would exclude from power Fiji's prosperous Indian minority.

Little progress

Earlier, the head of the islands' council of chiefs, Sitiveni Rabuka, said negotiations with the rebels were making little progress.

In an interview with the BBC, Mr Rabuka - himself the leader of two coups in 1987 - said rebel demands, that they be recognised as the legal government and the multi-ethnic constitution be scrapped, were unacceptable.

But Mr Rabuka added that while he disagreed with the rebels' methods, he had some sympathy with their view that the culture of indigenous Fijians should not be eroded while ethnic Indians held political power.