14 Dec 2006

Papers show Fiji's ousted government was preparing to encourage civil disobedience

8:20 pm on 14 December 2006

The Fiji military says that the ousted government had plans to stage mass public sit-ins and to disrupt the government payroll system to prevent the military from assuming total control of the country.

The military on Thursday released to the media papers from the deposed prime minister, Laisenia Qarase's,, SDL party which outlined a secret strategy.

One of the papers noted it must be remembered that the battle is ultimately a public relations one.

An SDL backbencher Mere Samisoni confirmed to the AFP newsagency that that document was drawn up by several caucus members but was a private paper and not meant to be distributed.

Another strategy paper discussed rewriting the government's payroll software to make it very difficult for the military to get control of that function.

The papers show that the government's people power movement required people who would not cause trouble or break laws but would support the lawful government by civil disobedience.