SUVA, JUNE 6: Fiji's martial law chief today ruled out any military solution to the country's hostage crisis as Commonwealth foreign ministers prepared to discuss a possible suspension of the Pacific nation."There will be no military solution, the military will not go in," Commander Voreqe Bainimarama said after coup leader George Speight warned the military against storming the besieged parliament complex."That's it, we are not going to budge," Bainimarama said.He added that he will accept no new demands from Speight, who claims to be acting in the name of indigenous Fijians, who make up around 51 per cent of Fiji's population of 800,000.Speight threatened yesterday to shoot his 31 hostages, including ethnic Indian Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry, if the military attempts to force its way into parliament where they are being held.Commonwealth foreign ministers were to meet in London later today to discuss taking action against Fiji and the neighboring Solomon Islands, where a copycat coup was staged yesterday.The Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group could recommend Fiji's suspension following the May 19 coup."The options for the Commonwealth are first and foremost that we could decide to suspend Fiji," said Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer.Downer told the BBC that sanctions were also under consideration, but said: "Frankly we don't want to destroy the Fijian economy and damage those people such as the Fiji Indians who have nothing to do with this coup"."We want to focus as much as we can on getting Speight to release his hostages and secondly to ensure a return to democratic government in Fiji."Bainimarama said yesterday that Speight was making "impossible" demands and talks had reached a stalemate.Three soldiers, including a colonel, left parliament here meanwhile and returned to barracks. Speight later claimed they remained his supporters.Bainimarama earlier today warned that serving military officers in parliament had until 3:00 p.m. (0300 GMT) to return to barracks, otherwise they would be removed from the military.The military confirmed that Lt Col Viliame Volavola was back in barracks. He had been named as housing minister in Speight's government.Two army engineers also returned to barracks.Still with Speight are Col Ilisoni Ligairi, the retired commander of the Counter Revolutionary Warfare Unit, the head of the Fiji Intelligence Service, Colonel Metuisela Mua, and a discharged engineer, Major Josefa Savua.Speight called a press conference to deny the three had defected and claimed Volavola was still a supporter."If I was Commodore Bainimarama I would be worried that a staunch supporter of mine was back in camp with him," he said.
