Foreign Office advises against travel to Fiji

The escalating political unrest in Fiji has led the Foreign Office to advise against all travel to the island.

Advice from the department has previously only warned of travel to the capital, Suva. However, Fijian military actions have led many to believe that a coup in the country could be imminent.

Talks in New Zealand between Frank Bainimarama, the head of the military, and Fiji's prime minister, Laisenia Qarase, resulted in no agreement being reached.

Since then the military has stepped up its operations, including an exercise in and around Suva in an effort to ward off any "foreign intervention".

The Australian government, which had positioned a number of naval vessels close to the area, stated that there had been an "incident" involving one of its Black Hawk helicopters in the region.

The EU condemned any murmurings of a coup by Mr Bainimarama and called for the military to respect Fiji's democratically elected government.

A statement read: "The presidency urges all the parties involved to pursue a dialogue aiming at resolving the current state of tension and restoring democratic stability in Fiji.

"The EU strongly believes that in a democracy, the military must be subordinate to the elected civilian leadership. The EU opposes any attempt to undermine the democratic process in Fiji."

The military and the government have been at odds for sometime in relations to legislation from Mr Qarase that relates to amnesties for people involved in a coup six years ago.