A Solomon Islands academic says the only body that can find a legitimate solution to his country’s current crisis is the National Parliament.

Senior politics lecturer at the Suva-based University of the South Pacific, Dr Gordon Nanau, said this following the unrest and rioting in Honiara yesterday by a large group of people angry over the outcome of the prime ministerial election in Honiara.

Manasseh Sogavare was voted into power at Parliament House for the fourth time yesterday after polling 34 votes, ahead of rival Matthew Wale whose 14 supporters boycotted the 50-seat Parliament.

READ MORE: 50 charged, 11 police injured during Solomon Islands riots

Solomon Islands police used tear gas to disperse crowds in Honiara’s China Town. Image: Wansolwara/SIBC

Angry mobs took to the streets yesterday afternoon, looting and causing damage to businesses, vehicles and both private and public properties, in protest against the election of Sogavare.

Videos and photos circulated on social media showed men and women, running, yelling, and throwing rocks at buildings and damaging vehicles in the Eastern part of town.

Dr Gordon Nanau … Solomon Islanders “must not allow lawlessness and criminal activities to dictate who becomes prime minister”. Image: Wansolwara

“The only body that can find a legitimate solution to the current situation is the National Parliament of Solomon Islands. If the Prime Minister decides to step down based on his own judgment or that of his colleagues in the House, it will be up to Parliament to determine the candidate with majority support to become prime minister,” Dr Nanau said.

“Again, the process for such a change must be through Parliament. Solomon Islanders must not allow lawlessness and criminal activities to dictate who becomes prime minister.

Convene Parliament
“Parliament must be allowed to convene soon and have a government formed to discuss the current situation.

“This also calls for the 14 MPs who walked out of Parliament to show leadership and allow parliamentary processes to be effected. This is the only way to find a legitimate solution to the current impasse.”

The Pacific Casino Hotel at Kukum, where Sogavare and his Democratic Coalition for Advancement stayed in the lead up to the election, was also looted and damaged by the angry mobs.

The burning and looting continued in the eastern part of the capital last night, which saw the burning of the Oceanic Marine Building at KGVI and the looting and rampage of a recently opened shopping complex.

Local police used tear gas to disperse crowds in China Town and again last night in East Honiara to control the crowds.

Reports also suggested that a few innocent people were tear gassed in their own homes as rioters randomly ran into their areas to get away from police.

Sogavare’s win caused an upset as people allegedly saw this as a continuation of the former government and took to the streets to call for a change in the government leadership. The protests after the announcement slowly developed into rioting and unrest, amidst heavy police presence.

USP students call for calm
Solomon Islands students at USP in Suva have called on fellow citizens in Honiara to stay calm and not to take the law into their own hands.

Solomon Islands final-year law student Eddie Babanisi, who is currently based at USP’s Laucala campus, said there were processes in place to address grievances relating to the election outcome.

“I call on the young people to stop what they are doing now. Please stand down and listen to the police and authorities’ call for calm,” he said.

“They have just elected respective leaders into Parliament and they should take this up with their leaders to take up through relevant channels, instead of staging riots.

“Whatever happened yesterday was a parliamentary procedure to choose our leaders and the public has no right over what the National Parliament has decided in electing the new prime minister.”

Bachelor of Commerce final-year student Sophie Kwaomae, who is also from Solomon Islands, said the protests and riots might not be staged just for political reasons.

“The reality is that these young people running around causing havoc don’t have anything better to do but to wait for opportunities to loot and damage the city,” she said.

“Majority of them seem to have horded from squatter settlements into town. The real reasons for this might not be political, but also social, such as unemployment and the poverty stricken conditions they live in every day, thus the motivation to stage such actions to vent their frustration. These are the very issues that the incoming government must prioritise.”

USP campus closes
In light of the unrest by recent political events, USP vice-chancellor Professor Pal Ahluwalia said all USP campuses on Solomon Islands would be closed until further notice.

He said students and staff were urged to remain at home and adhere to security advisories issued by national authorities.

“Our prayers are with you all and the nation at this time, for a peaceful and safe outcome to these events,” he said.

The prime ministerial election continued yesterday morning despite a High Court injunction for the election to be postponed.

The postponement was proposed to make way for the full hearing of the validity of the nomination of Sogavare for prime ministership last Friday.

However, Governor-General Sir Frank Kabui exercised his constitutional powers to ensure the election ensued.

Talking to the crowd outside the National Parliament soon after his election, Prime Minister Sogavare said they were listening to what people were saying.

Manasseh Sogavare speaks on the steps of Solomon Islands National Parliament shortly after winning the prime ministerial election yesterday. Image: Wansolwara

“I want to assure this nation that we are listening to what people are saying. We have heard from various squatters and various groups, who have made very important statements.

“These have not fallen on deaf ears. We will take them into consideration when we work on the government’s new policies.”

‘Rule of law’
In a short video released after the election, Matthew Wale, the Leader of the Grand Coalition whose 15 members abstained from voting yesterday and walked out during election proceedings, said the laws of the country must be upheld.

“While the Grand Coalition recognises the authority of the Governor-General to preside over the meeting, under the National Constitution of our country, the group felt that the decision of the High Court injunction orders directing the Governor-General to postpone the meeting of members that was convened at 9.30am, should have been adhered to,” he said in the clip.

“The Grand Coalition believes that our legal processes must be respected. We believe that the order and directions of the High Court were reasonable, given the significance of the submissions.

“The walkout, therefore, is for the sake of the rule of law. The Governor-General did not abide by the direction to differ the meeting, a direction of the High Court. No one is above the law including his excellency.”

Rosalie Nongebatu of the Solomon Islands is a final-year journalism student at USP’s Laucala campus. She is also editor of Wansolwara, the USP Journalism Programme’s student training print and online publications. This article is republished as part of USP and the Pacific Media Centre’s journalism education partnership.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

RNZ Pacific reports that an uneasy calm has returned to the capital while Sogavare rejected accusations his past governments have “failed” Malaita over project implementation.

More reports, pictures on ABC Pacific Beat

A police officer speaks to a youth during yesterday’s disturbances in Honiara. Image: Solomon Star

Significant damage was caused at the Pacific Casino Hotel and many vehicles were also damaged.

These crowd marches were illegal and investigating police are expected to arrest more suspects.

Five Royal Solomon Islands Police Force (RSIPF) and four Correctional Services officers were injured and needed medical attention, the Star reports.

Commissioner Matthew Varley called on residents to stay home unless it was “extremely necessary” to avoid further trouble.

Police operation
“I have ordered a large police operation to conduct more high visibility patrols across Honiara tonight and police will stop anyone that is causing trouble around the city,” he said.

Manasseh Sogavare speaking to media yesterday after being elected prime minister again. Image: Solomon Star

“People engaged in disorderly conduct will be searched and dealt with.

“I have also ordered a number of road blocks and checkpoints to be put in place to reduce traffic in the city.”

Commissioner Varley said: “This is necessary to ensure we maintain security across Honiara tonight. The RSIPF will not take any chances when it comes to public safety.

“If you are a law abiding citizen, then you have nothing to fear.

“Police are in control and we are continuing to respond to any incidents of disturbance around the city.

“But anyone who is planning to carry out any illegal activity can expect police to deal with you sternly.”

Swift action
The Police Response Team (PRT) officers and riot squad officers have been ordered to take swift action against anyone using violence.

“I urge all law abiding citizens to stay at home tonight and stay off the streets,” Commissioner Varley said.

“We need peace in our families, our communities and in our nation.”

Reports from RNZ Pacific and the Solomon Star.

Solomon Islands police in riot gear during yesterday’s post-election disturbances in Honiara. Image: Melanesia News Network

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

By RNZ Pacific

Police in Solomon Islands called for calm today after rioting broke out in the capital of Honiara over the election of Manasseh Sogavare as the new prime minister.

Sogavare’s win – his fourth term as prime minister – represents a continuation of the last government and those protesting are purportedly people who had been wanting a change in government

Videos and pictures posted on social media show large crowds of mostly young men walking and running through the streets, yelling and throwing stones at buildings, and breaking in and damaging some private properties.

READ MORE: Protests erupt in Solomon Islands as Sogavare elected for fourth time

A woman police officer in riot gear in Honiara today. Image: Pacific Newsroom

Police riot squads have been trying to disperse the more rowdy groups with tear gas.

One group caused substantial damage to the Pacific Casino Hotel complex at Kukum where Sogavare and the members of his Democratic Coalition for Advancement had been based

-Partners-

The situation in Honiara remains tense with most shops and businesses having closed.

Police said they would continue high visibility patrols throughout the night and are urging people to stay away from the city centre.

Meanwhile, Sogavare has been sworn in at Government House and is now officially the prime minister of Solomon Islands.

This article is republished under the Pacific Media Centre’s content partnership with Radio New Zealand.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk

About 60 people from the Sri Lankan community and human rights advocates gathered in Auckland’s Aotea Square today in a solidarity vigil for the survivors of the Easter Sunday bombings.

More than 320 people were killed in the Sri Lankan atrocities.

Today’s vigil was organised by the Federation of Tamil Associations in NZ (FTANZ).

Meanwhile, the New Zealand and Sir Lankan governments are treating with caution reports that the suicide bombings of three Christian churches and three tourist hotels in three cities across Sri Lanka were carried out by Islamic State (ISIS) in retaliation for the Christchurch mosques terror attacks on March 15.

The terrorist group’s Amaq news agency says ISIS has claimed responsibility for the Easter bombings.

It is the deadliest overseas operation claimed by ISIS since it proclaimed its “caliphate” almost five years ago, and would suggest it retains the ability to launch devastating strikes around the world despite multiple defeats in the Middle East, reports The Guardian.

Auckland Sri Lankans and human rights advocates at the vigil in Aotea Square today. Image: David Robie/PMC Federation of Tamil Associations of New Zealand (FTANZ) coordinator Dr Siva Vasanthan at the Auckland vigil today. Image: David Robie/PMC RNZ Checkpoint’s Alex Perrottet interviewing FTANZ president George Arulanantham at the Auckland vigil today. Image: David Robie/PMC

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

COMMENTARY: By Sylvester Gawi in Lae

I grew up in the 1990s listening to NBC Radio – Radio Kundu – which was informative and always reaching out to the mass population of Papua New Guinea who can afford a transmitter radio.

From entertaining stringband tunes, toksave segments and nationwide news coverage to the ever popular school broadcasts in classrooms, NBC (National Broadcasting Corporation) has been the real voice of the nation.

It contributed immensely to the nation’s independence, growth and development and stood steadfastly to promote good governance and transparency in development issues the country faces.

READ MORE: NBC-PNG rebranding – but nothing to show in the provinces

For more than 40 years it has been the most effective communication medium for most ordinary citizens who benefited from its nationwide coverage.

I was a young kid back then and grew up inspired to take up a job in radio broadcasting, particularly with NBC.

-Partners-

Radio Morobe was the ultimate choice for listeners all over the province. It broadcast in medium, shortwave and FM frequencies and reached even the rural and isolated regions in Morobe and neigbouring provinces.

The Radio Morobe studio building was constructed and opened in October 1971 and since then its pioneer broadcasters have all aged with time into the 21st century.

Building condemned
The Morobe provincial government has neglected its upgrading and funding in the last 10 years or more and since then the building has crumbled and was condemned in October 2018.

Radio Morobe … condemned building. Image: Post-Courier

I joined NBC in 2015 and worked among a new crop of officers and a few oldies up till now.

These are some of the notable areas the MPG has failed to assist NBC Morobe, despite provincial governments being given the task to upkeep NBC radio services to be operational.

• little or no funding annually for the station operations;
• a tranmission tower built for NBC Morobe being taken back and managed by MPA. It is making millions for the MPA with nothing from its revenue given to NBC Morobe;
• general maintenance and or replacement of studio utilities;
• NBC reception towers not functioning, thus transmission is NOT reaching the wider population in rural remote areas;
• district authorities NOT realising the power of communication to their people and funding its reach in their electorates;
• politicians and aspiring politicians making empty promises and using the radio to promote their agendas and gone into hiding when elected;
• now the radio station structure has been condemned by authorities as unsafe NBC Morobe is no longer broadcasting; and
• last but not the least, NBC Morobe management and staff are now being locked out of their temporary studio over non-payment of bills. The landlord is the MPG through its business arm Morobe Sustainable Development Ltd.

It has been almost 6 months since the NBC Morobe building was condemned by PNG Power as unsafe. Nothing concrete has been done to rebuilt it despite political promises.

NBC Morobe has been off-air for about 3 months now and staff are still on payroll without being physically at work. The same problem is being faced by majority of NBC radio stations nationwide.

Denied freedom
Our people have been denied their freedom to be informed on their government’s performance. Health, Education and disaster awarenesses are not reaching the people.

Land and resource owners are being denied their freedom of expression. The people can no longer send toksaves to their loved ones, but are forced to pay for and use expensive yet poor telecommunication methods to send messages.

The high cost of risky sea travel and road trips on deteriorating roads have cost so many lives, yet our government keeps promising the people that they will fix NBC services.

NBC radio services in Morobe have been going on and off. One cannot pick up its signal out of Lae City.

Multi-million kina resource extracting projects are sprouting all over Morobe and yet our people are NOT informed on the positive and negative impacts to their land, sea and rivers.

I hope our new Communication Minister Koni Iguan can fix this from the ministerial level. Minister Iguan’s Markham electorate cannot even receive NBC signal and its worse than you think.

Markham valley itself is an important economic hub of this country.

This blog is republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

By RNZ Pacific

Democracies across Asia and the Pacific are struggling to resist disinformation and protect press freedoms, according to a new report.

Reporters Without Borders released its 2019 index last Thursday showing an increase in self-censorship of journalists in parts of the Pacific last year.

Although Pacific Island countries generally rose in press freedom rankings, Reporters Without Borders was also concerned about an absence of editorial independence.

READ MORE: Pacific ‘bright spots’ amid World Press Freedom Index Asian warnings

In Papua New Guinea, it said journalists faced intimidation, direct threats, censorship, prosecution and bribery attempts.

“All this was particularly visible during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in the capital, Port Moresby, in November 2018, when journalists who wanted to raise sensitive issues were censored by their bosses and the government was accused of accommodating the Chinese delegation’s demands for certain journalists to be excluded although they had obtained accreditation,” the RSF 2019 index said.

-Partners-

The group said self-censorship was also on the rise in Tonga, where politicians have sued media outlets and keeps tight controls over state media.

“This was particularly so at the state radio and TV broadcaster, the Tonga Broadcasting Commission (TBC), where two senior editors were sidelined under pressure from the government.

Suppressing editorial independence
“In 2018, the government gained full control over the TBC, suppressing all vestiges of editorial independence.”

Elsewhere, Reporters Without Borders said balanced election coverage in Fiji and the acquittal of Fiji Times journalists on sedition charges was an “encouraging victory”.

“The relatively pluralist and balanced coverage of the 2018 parliamentary elections – the second since the 2006 coup d’état – confirmed the Fiji media’s liveliness and spirit of resistance.”

In Samoa, the group said the country was “in the process of losing its status as a regional press freedom model”.

RSF said defamation laws had given Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi a licence to attack critical journalists.

In Solomon Islands, similar defamation laws were criticised by RSF as intimidating journalists and encouraging media self-censorship

“Indonesian diplomatic pressure for an end to any form of support for West Papuan separatism could pose a threat to the public debate.”

It also praised public broadcaster Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation (SIBC) as playing a “vital role in keeping the population informed by radio” in a country with low literacy rates.

This article is republished under the Pacific Media Centre’s content partnership with Radio New Zealand.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

FILM REVIEW: By David Robie

While a gripping film about the apocalyptic Bougainville war, or more accurately the peace that ended the decade-long conflict, opened in cinemas across New Zealand last week, an island roadshow has been taking place back in the Pacific.

Initiated by the United Nations, the roadshow – featuring Bougainville President Father John Momis, many of his cabinet members and UN Resident Coordinator Gianluca Rampolla – is designed to help prepare the Bougainvillean voters to decide on their future.

This future is due to be put to the test in a referendum on October 17 in the crucial political outcome of an extraordinary peace process that began in chilly mid-winter talks at Burnham Military Camp near Christchurch in July 1997.

The vote is already four months delayed, partly due to spoiling tactics of Peter O’Neill’s Papua New Guinean government which would avoid the vote if it could.

The Bougainville referendum roadshow … speaking to the women. Image: Bougainville News

In any case, the vote is not binding and the O’Neill government may not even honour it, even if there is an overwhelming vote for independence in the island with a population of 250,000.

The choice is simple: Voters will be asked to choose between greater autonomy and full independence. The vote is expected to favour independence.

Also at stake is the future of the Panguna – once the mainstay of Papua New Guinea’s economy and now abandoned because of the environmental devastation caused by the huge Australian-owned copper mine – and the right of a people to choose their own destiny free from rapacious foreign extraction industries.

After almost 10 years of civil war when an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 people lost their lives through the actual fighting between the Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA) and other armed groups and the Papua New Guinean military, and through deaths from lack of medical treatment and starvation as a result of a military blockade around the island state, a breakthrough was achieved in New Zealand.

Training a child to play shoot … a scene from both Hakas And Guitars and Soldiers Without Guns. Image: Freeze frame from Hakas And Guns trailer

Exhausted by the deadlock, the deprivations of the war and 14 failed attempts at negotiating a peace, talks in the bitter cold at Burnham sparked off the long journey for a lasting peace. As former North Solomons provincial government official and a peace process officer Robert Tapi recalls:

The silent majority of Bougainvilleans were tired of war and longed to return to normal village life. Women’s groups, church groups and chiefs increased the pressure on both the BRA and the PNG-backed Bougainville Transitional Government to negotiate for peace.

On all sides, the likely cost of victory was proving too high. The moderate revolutionary leaders realised that even if they did “win”, they “would inherit a hopelessly divided society”.

The first meeting resulted in the Burnham Declaration of July 18, 1997, which urged the leaders to call a ceasefire and for the establishment of an international peacekeeping force with the withdrawal of the PNG Defence Force.

Following the Burnham Truce and the endorsement of a Truce Monitoring Group (TMG) in Cairns in November 1997, a further Burnham meeting in January 1998 produced the Lincoln Agreement and paved the way for the Ceasefire Agreement in Arawa on April 30, 1998.

The success of the breakthrough in Burnham and the following meetings was thanks to the inclusion of women’s groups, churches and local chiefs as well as the political opponents, meeting on neutral territory and with New Zealand not intervening in the talks. Also helpful was then Foreign Minister Don McKinnon’s friendly and chatty style with the delegates, which boosted Bougainvillean morale.

“Land is our heartbeat” … women played a key role in the Bougainville peace – and the documentary. Image: Freeze frame from Soldiers Without Guns

Filmmaker Will Watson stepped up to tell the extraordinary New Zealand peacekeeping story initially through an award-winning 2018 documentary for Māori Television, Hakas And Guitars, following up with this year’s feature film Soldiers Without Guns.

He had been monitoring the war and aftermath while a journalism student and began to put together a project team in 2005. Ironically, due to funding and other obstacles, it took him 13 years to complete the feature film – longer than the actual war.

A couple of years later, in 2007, he had a film crew on the ground in Bougainville to carry out interviews and gain invaluable footage. His documentary is an inspiring and fitting tribute to the innovative “guitars, waiata and wahine” approach of the NZ-led peacekeeping force.

Soldiers Without Guns poster at the Civic premiere in Auckland earlier this month. Image: David Robie

By concentrating on a strategy of winning the hearts and minds through hundreds of kilometres of foot slogging treks to villages and communicating directly and honestly with ordinary people, the soldiers gained the trust of Bougainvilleans from all sides.

It was a courageous and insightful decision by the first mission commander, Brigadier Roger Mortlock, now retired, to go to Bougainville without weapons and guarantee the peace. He had experienced a UN peacekeeping failure in Angola and was determined this mission would succeed.

Bougainville … a long history of struggle against the Australian-owned Panguna mine and for independence. Image: Freeze frame from Soldiers Without Guns

Another key factor in the success was Major Fiona Cassidy, an Army public relations manager at the time, and her ability to communicate in a meaningful way with the Bougainvillean women in what is a matriarchal society.

In a recent RNZ Pacific interview, she admitted finding the challenge a bit “scary”:

“When you looked at the country brief, you knew that you were not going into a benign environment. It actually was hostile. So it was a little bit scary thinking, ‘Okay, we’re going to a country which has been at war for so long, it still isn’t stable, and we’re going in unarmed.’”

During the start of the Bougainville war, I was head of the journalism programme at the University of Papua New Guinea and reported the first year of the conflict in a cover story for Pacific Islands Monthly. As part of this, I revealed how a New Zealand environmental consultancy unwittingly became a catalyst for fuelling the conflict.

I wrote in my 2014 book Don’t Spoil My Beautiful Face: Media, Mayhem and Human Rights in the Pacific:

Apart from convoys with soldiers riding shotgun and yellow ochre Bougainville Copper Limited trucks packed with security forces sporting M16s, you would hardly guess that a guerrilla war was in progress near the Bougainville provincial capital of Arawa. But once you reached the sandbagged machinegun nest in Birempa village at the foot of the rugged mountain jungles of the Crown Prince Range, the tension started to rise.

Scanning the dense vegetation for a sign of the militants of the Bougainville Republican Army (BRA)—known as Rambos in the first year of the decade-long civil war – the Papua New Guinea Defence Force soldier manning the machinegun didn’t notice the irony of the T-shirt he was wearing.

“Mine Of Tears” … a t-shirt popular early in the Bougainville war. Image: David Robie

Scrawled across his chest were the words MINE OF TEARS, a word play on the title of Richard West’s 1972 book River of Tears: The rise of Rio Tinto-Zinc Mining Corporation. The book was an expose of the mining operations by BCL’s parent company CRA Limited of Australia—a subsidiary of Britain’s Conzinc-Riotinto—and it had already become the “Bible” of the many of the militants.

At the time I was reporting on the fledgling war for a cover story featured by Pacific Islands Monthly in its November 1989 edition entitled MINE OF TEARS: BOUGAINVILLE ONE YEAR LATER. No other journalists were on the ground at the time, and the only other people staying at the small hotel in the port town of Kieta were soldiers, some cradling guns on their knees when having dinner. The atmosphere was surreal and ghostly in those early days.

The problems of Bougainville cannot be divorced from the rest of the country, or even from the rest of the Pacific. At stake are the crucial issues of a conflict between Western concepts of land ownership and indigenous land values, the equity between the national government, provincial administration and the traditional landowners, and a choice between genuine sovereignty over resource development projects or dependence on foreign control.

For those of us who have had some involvement in the Bougainville war bearing witness, Will Watson and his crew deserve huge praise for bringing this story to the big screen, and honouring New Zealand’s contribution to peace – Australia couldn’t have done it – and providing hope for Bougainville’s future.

With luck, the island will become independent and bring some meaning to all that terrible loss of life and deprivation.

Professor David Robie is director of the Pacific Media Centre.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

A Papua New Guinean soldier guards the road to Panguna, Bougainville, 1989. Image: David Robie

David Robie

Tuesday, April 23, 2019

Report by Pacific Media Centre ]]>