When friendly visits go bad

A mere two days ago, when Fiji's military stopped by police tactical unit headquarters in order to "inspect their weapons," Assistant Police Commissioner Moses Driver assured everyone that it was just a "friendly visit" and not to be alarmed; the military were not in control of the headquarters. While truckloads of troops swarmed the police station and took stock of the weapons inventory, Prime Minister Qarase said,

Everything is normal in the city and there is no indication that something will happen.

This reminded me of ol' Baghdad Bob who was amusing everyone as he denied claims that US troops were moving into Baghdad and the Iraqi forces were vanquishing, quite handily, the US-led invasion.

Because today, the Fiji military staged the fourth in a series of coups that have been seen in Fiji in the last 20 years.

Fiji's military took over running the country in a bloodless overthrow on Tuesday after confining the elected prime minister to his home in the South Pacific island nation's fourth coup in 20 years.

Military Commander Frank Bainimarama said he had temporarily stepped into President Ratu Josefa Iloilo's role as head of state and dismissed the government of Laisenia Qarase after a power struggle that had simmered all year.

Finally, the former Prime Minister seems to recognise the situation and says that he has been removed illegally and that Fiji has become "a laughing stock in the international arena." As militaries are wont to do, they have banned negative media coverage of the military.

My, what a difference a day can make.