The leader of the recent coup attempt in Fiji, Mr George Speight, threatened further civil unrest yesterday after the man he backed for president named a civilian government excluding rebel supporters from key positions.
The new president, Mr Josefa Iloilo, also defied Mr Speight by appointing the military-backed Mr Laiseni Qarase to head the new government.
"We consider it to be highly inappropriate and not in keeping with the vanua (people)," said Mr Speight. With his gunmen, he held Fiji's first ethnic-Indian prime minister, Mr Mahendra Chaudhry, hostage for two months in the name of Fijian ethnic rights.
"They are treading on some dangerous ground. It will result in a backlash . . . I think some of the people are trying to do me in and they are going to meet with some very strong resistance."
Asked if there would now be more civil unrest in Fiji, Mr Speight said: "I can predict it, absolutely." Mr Qarase had been named interim prime minister after the military imposed martial law late in May.
Rebels accuse Mr Qarase, an indigenous Fijian, of being too accommodating towards the country's ethnic Indian minority. The rebels had made the dismissal of his interim government a condition for last week's release of hostages.
Mr Speight's group came out badly in the line-up for the 20-member cabinet and 12 assistant ministers.
Only five of his nominations for cabinet positions made the line-up, with four outside the cabinet although sources said he could count on sympathy to his cause from several others.
The cabinet includes just one ethnic Indian, Mr George Shuit Raj, as an assistant minister. The new deputy leader is Mr Epeli Nailatikau, whose wife was one of Mr Speight's hostages. Another hostage, Ms Marieta Rigamoto, is an assistant minister.
Suva remained quiet under a loose curfew last night, with Mr Speight's men still holed up inside parliament and military roadblocks manned around town. The military said it had heard no reports of trouble elsewhere in the country.
Australia followed New Zealand yesterday in announcing a series of trade, defence, aid and sporting sanctions against Fiji in an attempt to force it to restore constitutional democracy.
Britain is recalling its high commissioner from Fiji after the ethnic Indian minority was virtually excluded from the new government. "We are disturbed that the deal struck to secure the release of the hostages abrogates the 1997 constitution and leaves almost half the population of Fiji without democratic representation," the Foreign Office Minister, Mr John Battle said.
Meanwhile, President Iloilo called on Fijians to bury racial biases and work to rebuild the nation.
The swearing-in of Fiji's new government was called off this morning, the acting prime minister, Mr Laisenia Qarase, said.
"Regrettably the president Ratu Josefa Iloilo is indisposed this morning, he is resting at his home so regrettably the swearing in ceremony was postponed this morning," Mr Qarase said.