WELLINGTON, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) -- Fiji army commander Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama Thursday gave the Qarase Government the deadline of Friday afternoon to meet all his demands and threatened "a peaceful transition" if that does not happen.

    According to Fiji Times, a Suva-based daily newspaper, in a press conference moments ago, the army chief called on the Government to "join a clean-up campaign" the military was organizing or "the army will do it for them."

    The army chief said that unless the Government meets all nine of the army's demands fully, the Government -- all Cabinet ministers and advisers -- should resign.

    "He only has the next 24 hours to clean up his Government's act. If they don't, then I will do it," Bainimarama also told Fijilive.com, a local news service, in an interview just before Qarase's state of the nation address.

    Bainimarama earlier said he had walked out in the middle of a crisis meeting arranged by the New Zealand Government in Wellington Wednesday because "Qarase had disregarded all of the military's demands."

    He said his meeting was "a flop" and that the army's clean up campaign would be carried out "in a couple of days."

    From a contradictory stand, Qarase in his national address Thursday said his meeting with Bainimarama "was cordial" and tagged it a successful trip.

    Tensions in Fiji have been high since Bainimarama threatened last month to remove Prime Minister Qarase from office.

    Bainimarama ever backed down from those threats after Qarase met his demand to amend controversial legislation, removing amnesty for people convicted over Fiji's 2000 coup.

    He issued last week demands to the government and a two-week deadline to comply, and has recalled army reservists in readiness for what he described as a "clean-up" of the Qarase government.