Fijian military unrest in 2006

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A series of events took place in the Pacific republic of Fiji in 2006, involving an ongoing public feud between the government and military. Tensions took a dramatic turn for the worse on 11–13 January, with reports of unusual troop and naval deployments, crisis meetings of the National Security Council, and the erection of police roadblocks. Rumours also swept the capital that the Military Commander, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, had been arrested by the police on government orders, but the Military denied this. The crisis came to a head on the 13th, with Bainimarama announcing that he had dismissed the Acting Land Force Commander, Lieutenant Colonel Jone Baledrokadroka for insubordination. This event was a precursor to the military coup that finally took place on 5 December 2006.

The Republic of Fiji Military Forces suffered serious and deep divisions when a faction of elite soldiers helped stage a coup on May 19, 2000 and later led a bloody mutiny attempt on November 2 the same year.

The target of the failed mutiny, which left five rebel and three loyalist soldiers dead, was the commander of the RFMF Commodore Voreqe (Frank) Bainimarama. The mutiny left Bainimarama shaken and deeply suspicious of any of his officer coups who contradicted him.

In the years that followed there were several low-key internal differences in the RFMF over Bainimarama's continued public standoff with the government of Laisenia Qarase. By January 2006, these differences were beginning to spill out into the public domain, most notably with the confrontation between Bainimarama and his second-in-command Lieutenant-Colonel Jone Baledrokadroka over the ongoing public feud.