By Rob Taylor

CANBERRA, July 14 (Reuters) - Fiji's military government came under pressure on Monday from six Pacific nations, including regional heavyweights Australian and New Zealand, to keep a promise of free elections next year amid signs of wavering.

Foreign ministers from Tonga, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tuvalu, New Zealand and Australia arrived in the country for talks with Fiji's military strongman and self-appointed Prime Minister, Frank Bainimarama, to examine election progress.

"The Australian government remains very concerned about the situation in Fiji and again calls on the interim government to honour its faithful and unconditional commitment to hold a democratic election in the first quarter of 2009," Canberra's Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said before leaving.

Bainimarama staged a bloodless coup in late 2006, claiming the then government of Laisenia Qarase was corrupt and soft on those behind an earlier 2000 coup. Fiji has been hit by four coups and a military mutiny since 1987.

The island chain, with about 900,000 people, remains deeply divided between ethnic Fijians, and Fijians of Indian background, who make up around 40 percent of the population but control large parts of the $3.7 billion economy.

In June, Bainimarama told soldiers corruption meant elections next year were unlikely to take place, despite the appointment of a ballot supervisor, as the electoral system needed reform to favour indigenous Fijians.

The European Union, which has suspended around $240 million in aid to Fiji until elections take place, this week said the absence of democratic rule and was a deep concern.

Australia's embassy in Suva has received several death threats, with Fiji's government refusing requests to bolster security for envoys and their families.

But before joining the first visit to Fiji by Pacific Islands foreign ministers since the December 2006 coup, New Zealand's Winston Peters said he was optimistic.

"We have to see if we can restore democracy to that country or assist that happening," Peters told New Zealand radio.

Both Australia and New Zealand have placed travel bans on Bainimarama, other members of the interim government and the Fiji military until democracy is restored through the ballot box.

The foreign ministers will report back to a meeting of Pacific nation leaders in Niue next month. (Reporting by Rob Taylor; Editing by Jerry Norton)

AlertNet news is provided by