Fiji’s military regime today took the unprecedented step of halting all meetings of the nation’s powerful council of indigenous chiefs – accusing it of failing to accept that the military now controls the affairs of the South Pacific nation.

Crisis talks between Fiji’s elected leader and its defiant military commander ended today without an agreement on averting a coup, but the prime minister said “substantial” progress had been made on issues that divided them.

Fiji’s army locked down its main barracks and conducted shooting practice today amid rising tensions between the military and the South Pacific country’s nationalist government.