Coup

Deposed Fiji Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase has flown out of the capital of Suva to his home island, a day after the military exercised a bloodless coup.

Mr Qarase and his wife Leba were taken from his residence before sunrise and flown to the island of Vanua Balavu to the east of the main island, government and airport sources told Reuters.

The Secretary to the Prime Minister was also escorted at gun point from the Parliamentary precinct.

In the fourth coup in Fiji in 20 years, soldiers barricaded Mr Qarase inside his home on Tuesday before military commander, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, assumed power and appointed an interim premier.

Fiji's police commissioner believes he was the victim of a premeditated campaign of military intimidation that forced him to flee the troubled Pacific nation.

Speaking in Cairns as fears of a coup mounted in Fiji, Australian Andrew Hughes told of the pressure applied on him and his family by the Fijian military under the guidance of Commodore Frank Bainimarama.

The military chief has been demanding Mr Hughes' sacking since police launched a sedition investigation against Commodore Bainimarama, who has threatened to overthrow the government.

But the defiant Mr Hughes, who flew out of Fiji on Tuesday "on leave" following the threats, is refusing to resign his post.