Fiji's military-appointed caretaker prime minister said today elections may be two years away after this week's bloodless coup, as the island nation's powerful tribal chiefs called on soldiers to lay down their arms.
"Now is the time for you, sons and daughters of Namosi (village), to leave the barracks and return home to your people," Ratu (Chief) Suliano Matanitobua said on Fiji radio today.
Fiji's Great Council of Chiefs, the country's traditional authority, opposes Tuesday's military overthrow of Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase, calling it illegal.
Fijians were asked to wear black today in protest at the takeover, while Qarase called for non-violent protests and Australia and New Zealand encouraged Fijians to engage in passive resistance to restore democracy.
Military chief Commander Frank Bainimarama has said he is prepared to use force to suppress any uprising against his move.
Troops continued to round up public officials opposed to the coup and the military chief has sacked at least six senior officials, including the police commissioner and his deputy.
Caretaker Prime Minister Jona Baravilala Senilagakali, a military doctor and Methodist lay preacher, said the military would determine the timing of elections in the South Pacific nation, which has now seen four coups in 20 years.
"It will totally be up to the military president and the military advisers to return Fiji back to normalcy. That could be tomorrow, that could be next week, it could be in the next two years or more," Senilagakali told Reuters.
The military chief has taken over the role of the president and declared a state of emergency in Fiji. He has said an interim administration will steer the country to new elections, but there is no sign yet of when that administration will be formed.
The Great Council of Chiefs is incensed that the military has removed the country's president and vice-president, both chiefs.
Chairman Ratu Ovini Bokini said the council still regarded President Ratu Josefa Iloilo as the legitimate president and that the removal of Vice President Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi was illegal.
Australia, New Zealand, Britain and the United States have imposed economic and defence sanctions against Fiji.
"For all its flaws and the fact that it was struggling in many ways, Fiji had re-embraced democracy and what's happened is wrong, it's brutal and it's unlawful military takeover," Australian Prime Minister John Howard said on Thursday.
Senilagakali said Fiji would seek assistance from Asia - naming Indonesia, Taiwan and China - to circumvent sanctions, just as it did following a 1987 coup.
"Whatever the commander tells me to do, I have no choice but to do it," he told Australian radio, adding he believed the coup was in Fiji's best interests.
"I have this conviction that I have been called by divine authority to do something for the people of Fiji. I will continue until I clean out the mess in Fiji," he said.
"Democracy might be alright for Australia and New Zealand but certainly not alright for Fiji, I can tell you that," he said. "I think in Fiji we need a different type of democracy."