Fiji's president said yesterday that gunmen holding the country's prime minister and other politicians captive were prepared to start killing their hostages unless he quit as head of state.
President Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara said the would-be coup leader, Mr George Speight, had told him "that if I didn't follow what he says . . . he will start executing hostages one by one".
"I was told that he wants me to step down and allow his group to run the country," President Mara told the nation in a televised address. "I will not be able to comply."
But website fijilive.com quoted Mr Speight later as denying that he had threatened the lives of Fiji's first ethnic Indian prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry and the other politicians who have been held hostage in parliament since Friday.
"To suggest that we will embark on such an action as a means of resolution is irresponsible and crazy," Mr Speight was quoted as telling the local journalists who run the website.
"We are absolutely committed to a non-confrontational solution."
President Mara, whose daughter Ms Adi Koila Nailatikau Mara, the tourism minister, is among the hostages, also indicated he hoped the crisis could be ended peacefully.
"The action we want is for these people to lay down their arms and talk," he said.
Mr Speight left parliament house early today to inspect damage in the capital, Suva. He spoke briefly to a group of about 30 indigenous Fijian nationalist supporters outside. Mr Speight led up to 10 gunmen into parliament on Friday and seized 45 hostages, claiming to have taken power on behalf of indigenous Fijians.
He has since freed about 30 hostages, including some MPs who signed resignation letters in return for their release.
A dusk-to-dawn curfew was imposed shortly afterwards under the state of emergency enforced when the crisis sparked rioting and looting in Suva on Friday.
The president, the police and the military have all supported the government and Fiji's trade unions have called a national strike for Monday in support of the prime minister.
But a group of nationalist parties backed Mr Speight yesterday, saying Fiji was being run by an "insensitive and power hungry immigrant Indian prime minister and his family of arrogant sons". They delivered a petition to President Mara, demanding he dissolve parliament and establish an interim government.
The petition demanded the revocation of Fiji's 1997 multiracial constitution, so that only indigenous Fijians could be prime minister or president. It also demanded that all freehold lands revert to native ownership.
The Great Council of Chiefs, an influential body in the Pacific island nation, was due to meet to discuss the impasse tomorrow and local media suggested neither side was likely to make a major move before then.
Col Sitiveni Rabuka, who led a 1987 coup which toppled an Indian-dominated government, has acted as mediator between Mr Speight and the president and is expected to chair the council meeting.
The Australian Foreign Minister, Mr Alexander Downer, said yesterday it would be a disaster for Fiji if the coup attempt were to succeed.
Speaking in Ho Chi Minh City during a visit to Vietnam, Mr Downer said: "If this attempted coup was to succeed . . . it would be a catastrophe for Fiji's engagement with the international community, it would have enormous negative consequences for Fiji's economy and for employment".