The latest members of New Zealand’s Defence Force and police contingent have arrived in Honiara after days of unrest in the Solomon Islands capital.

They are part of a regional peacekeeping force that also includes teams from Australia, Papua New Guinea and Fiji.

Two flights landed in Honiara yesterday afternoon from Ōhakea and Auckland Air Force bases.

They have been sent in response to a request for support from the Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare.

The Air Force Boeing 757 and a Hercules transported Defence Force and police personnel, vehicles and other equipment.

An advance party of New Zealand Defence Force and police personnel arrived in Honiara on Thursday — a week after violent rioting rocked the city for days leaving Chinatown and parts of eastern Honiara severely damaged.

Earlier this week Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta said the personnel would maintain peace rather than get involved in domestic politics.

She said a looming vote of no-confidence in Sogavare could trigger more violence.

The New Zealand deployment is expected to be in the Solomon Islands for up to a month.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Papua New Guinea’s deployment of 37 police and Correctional Services staff to Solomon Islands on Friday was done on the back of a regional police-to-police engagement arrangement to help stem the civil unrest in Honiara.

Police Commissioner David Manning, who returned to Port Moresby from Honiaria on Friday evening on a chartered Tropicair plane, said he met his Solomon Islands counterpart Mostyn Mangau.

The first thing the PNG contingent did was to protect some of the state assets such as Henderson International Airport and Parliament House.

Manning said a further commitment was known to Commissioner Mangau and Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare to increase manpower if the situation worsened.

He said that the members of the PNG contingent would work side by side and under Commissioner Mangau’s orders.

He said on the meeting with Mangau that the situation was of great concern for them given the manpower shortage in Solomon Islands.

PNG’s intervention was not just timely but was critical to them to contain the situation.

Manning said according to the brief, most of the shops in Chinatown were looted and burnt down, including the PNG-owned BSP building in Honiara.

He said an aerial view of the capital indicated that the city streets were empty with no movement of people.

He said PNG’s intervention was part of PNG’s interest in helping provide regional security.

Fiji providing 50 troops
The Fiji Times reports that Fiji will today deploy a 50 troops to Solomon Islands.

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An editorial in the Chinese English-language mouthpiece Global Times has accused Australia — and the United States — of “conniv[ing] with and even encourag[ing] the unrest” in the Solomon Islands after three days of rioting last week destroyed much of Chinatown in the capital Honiara.

“Even though [100] Australian troops and police were sent to keep order in the Solomon Islands,” said the tabloid newspaper at the weekend.

“What is right and what is not is obvious. Hence, aren’t [Prime Minister Scott] Morrison’s remarks of ‘not indicat[ing] any position’ actually a support for the evil doings?“

The editorial was headlined “Australia has fomented riots in Solomon Island”.

The Global Times is published under the umbrella of the Chinese Communist Party’s official flagship publication People’s Daily and is viewed by critics as often publishing disinformation.

“Defending against China’s influence into the South Pacific has been an outstanding geopolitical consideration of the US and Australia, which has been welcomed and longed [for] by the Taiwan authorities, because four of the remaining 15 countries that keep ‘diplomatic ties’ with Taiwan are in the South Pacific — and the future to consolidate such ties is uncertain.”

The editorial said:

Rioters ‘stormed Parliament’
“The capital city of the Solomon Islands has been under riots for days. The rioters have stormed the Parliament, set fire to a police station, and attacked Chinatown and other businesses there.

“Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare on Friday blamed foreign interference for instigating the anti-government protests over his government’s decision to cut ‘diplomatic ties’ with the island of Taiwan and establish diplomatic ties with the Chinese mainland. Though, he didn’t specify who is among the ‘other powers’ that fomented the violence.

“Sogavare emphasised that the choice to establish diplomatic ties with Beijing conforms to the trend of the times and international laws.

“The Solomon Islands is a country with nearly 690,000 people in the South Pacific region. After Sogavare assumed office in 2019, his administration made a choice to set up diplomatic ties with Beijing. However, the island of Malaita [in] the country, where most of the rioters are reportedly from, has maintained its relations with the island of Taiwan.

“The New York Times said the Solomon Islands has been in a ‘heightened political tug of war’, citing a former Australian diplomat stationed in the Solomon Islands saying that the US has been providing Malaita with direct foreign aid. Such analysis is representative of the US and Australia.

“Defending against China’s influence into the South Pacific has been an outstanding geopolitical consideration of the US and Australia, which has been welcomed and longed by the Taiwan authorities, because four of the remaining 15 countries that keep ‘diplomatic ties’ with Taiwan are in the South Pacific — and the future to consolidate such ties is uncertain.

“The South Pacific countries and the Chinese mainland have a strong capacity to cooperate under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative. Over the years, many small nations have, on their own, chosen to have closer ties with Beijing.

‘Dollar diplomacy, coercion’
“The measures taken to prevent these small countries from establishing diplomatic ties with China have included ‘dollar diplomacy’, coercion, and inciting unrest within these countries to topple local governments.

“Australia has been offered a hand to maintain security in the Solomon Islands. Recently, Canberra has again deployed more than 100 police and defense force personnel to the country. Against this backdrop, it is not hard to imagine how easy it will be for an external force to wreak havoc there.

“Australia, the US, or the Taiwan authorities haven’t admitted to being behind the ‘foreign interference’ condemned by Sogavare. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison insisted that Australia’s ‘presence there does not indicate any position on the internal issues of the Solomon Islands’. Canberra even alleged the move was in response to a request from Sogavare.

“Nonetheless, the Associated Press cited observers as saying that ‘Australia intervened quickly to avoid Chinese security forces moving in to restore order’. More importantly, neither Canberra nor Washington has condemned the riots in the Solomon Islands so far, despite the fact that the unrest has violated the basic spirit of democracy and the rule of law.

“Media coverage of the riots in the US and Australia was ‘matter-of-fact’ and highlighted the rioters’ political opposition to diplomatic relations with China.

“It is clear that Australia’s overall attitude, and that of the US, is to connive with and even encourage the unrest, even though the Australian troops and police were sent to keep order in the Solomon Islands. What is right and what is not is obvious. Hence, aren’t Morrison’s remarks of ‘not indicate any position’ actually a support for the evil doings?

“The government of the Solomon Islands and their people know what is really going on there. It is also not hard for the outside world to know. Prime Minister Sogavare noted there were other powers fomenting the riots, shouldn’t the international community believe the words of this legitimate leader of the Solomon Islands?”

And the PNG ?? Honiara ?? community out on the streets today for a cleanup session ? Pictures by Rodney Arofasei pic.twitter.com/HnRS3Pji6o

— Georgina Kekea (@ginakekea) November 28, 2021

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Police in Solomon Islands were overrun as rioters and looters tore through the capital Honiara.

RNZ Pacific correspondent in Honiara, Elizabeth Osifelo, said exhausted police were overwhelmed as more people swarmed into town in defiance of a 36-hour lockdown.

Shops in Chinatown which had survived the earlier unrest were ransacked and burned.

On the eastern side of town the Ranadi branch of Bank of the South Pacific was torched as was locally owned and operated hardware store, Island Enterprise.

Osifelo said police were doing everything they could to try and get control of the situation but they were outnumbered.

“It was all looting and just chaos. So there were a whole lot of people in the Chinatown area but there were still other locations around the eastern part of Honiara that has been really badly affected,” she said.

“A lot of businesses and a lot of buildings have been burned.”

Osifelo said the unrest had had a massive impact on law-abiding citizens and families in and around the capital who were now running low on food and basic necessities, as well as utilities like power and water which were pre-paid services in Honiara.

“Families in and around Honiara were not prepared for the basic things such as cash power, cash water and just the basic food supplies at home so the situation is and will affect a lot of families in Honiara,” she said.

Aftermath of #Chinatown burning. Video by PS, Ethel Frances ? pic.twitter.com/p4YuoutzRA

— Georgina Kekea (@ginakekea) November 25, 2021

Community rally to support police
In some parts of the city police numbers have been bolstered by law-abiding citizens.

Elizabeth Osifelo said attempts by rioters to ransack and burn a local police station in the Naha area were thwarted when residents came to the aid of police and drove the rioters away.

She said in the western part of the city citizens were helping to man barricades and supporting police to stop the looting.

Australia sending help
Australia is deploying Defence Force personnel and federal police to support local authorities in Solomon Islands.

The ABC reports Prime Minister Scott Morrison saying 23 officers from the Australian Federal Police (AFP) specialist response group were being deployed immediately.

A further 50 AFP officers would be deployed to support critical infrastructure on Friday as well as 43 Defence Force personnel.

Morrison said the deployment was in response to a request from Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare made through the instruments of a security treaty signed with Australia in 2017.

This was the same year that the Australian-led Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) ended, having helped restore law and order, and rebuilt the country after the bloody Ethnic Crisis which began in the late-1990s.

Pics from #Facebook telling a sad story for #Honiara. BSP bank branch in Ranadi, Island Enterprise, Chinatown shops + others burnt down. No talk yet from government #PM @Jnr_Muria ?‍♀️?‍♀️ what are we waiting for? ?? The whole city to burn down? pic.twitter.com/TxXPOQnmjz

— Georgina Kekea (@ginakekea) November 25, 2021

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

A defiant Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare has vowed tonight that he will not resign and will defend Solomon Islands democracy with his life.

After two-days of looting with Honiara’s Chinatown in ruins and calls for him to step down, Sogavare declared he was not resigning.

“If I am removed as Prime Minister, it will be on the floor of Parliament,” he said.

“I have faith and respect in our democratic process, and I will defend it with my life. I say this with deepest conviction.

“Our people need to and must understand that our actions in defending democracy is not merely a lip service. It is conviction in the principles and values that underpins our democracy and all democracies around the world.”

Sogavare said in a radio broadcast to the nation the past 36 hours had seen the country, especially, Honiara brought to its knees.

“I have been asked to step down and while I acknowledge that call I must also respect our democracy. I am elected as the Prime Minister of our beloved country by 35 members of Parliament who represent their people.

Politicians’ ‘hunger for power’
“The call for me to step down is premised on the hunger for power by certain politicians who do not have any respect for the principles of democracy and due process,” he said.

Sogavare said that in 2006 a precedent had been set when the then Prime Minister was asked to resign after a riot in Honiara.

“That event is the precedent for our current situation. If I am to step down, what message would that send to our people, children and generations to come?” he asked.

“Some of us are of the opinion that if I step down the protests and riots will stop. This is the easiest decision to make.

“However, the effect of this decision is what weighs heavy in my heart. Are we saying to our young children and youths that whenever we are not happy with those in authority we take the laws into our own hands?

“If we do this, it is a very dangerous message to our people and future generations.

“We are effectively saying to our children, take the law into your hands if [and] whenever you are not happy. This must never be the message we send nor the conviction we instill in our citizens if we are to progress as a peaceful democracy.”

Following the 2 day escalation of riots in Honiara, the #SolomonIslands Prime Minister, Hon. Manasseh Sogavare released an audio (voice) message on state broadcaster @NewsSibc.

His message was clear, he will not step down as PM esp. at the risk of setting a dangerous precedent. pic.twitter.com/9GisPuN9dv

— Jone Tuiipelehaki (@tuiipelehaki) November 25, 2021

‘Return to your homes’
Sogavare said in his appeal: “I call on all our people to please return to your homes. Our city has already been ransacked with properties burnt to the ground. It will take a lot of effort and money to rebuild it.

“I appeal to you all to respect our city, public and private properties and the safety of innocent civilians.

“Destruction, looting and violence is not how we address our grievances but instead through dialogue and consultation which the government has been advancing despite misinformation being circulated by certain individuals and leaders who have no regard for the collateral and irreversible damage caused by such unwarranted actions,” he said.

Sogavare asked the the churches to pray for the country and people.

Sogavare also urged all ministers and members of Parliament to “defend our democracy”.

He said the government had not been idle with its efforts to protect the country from covid-19, sustain the economy and progress crucial reforms in the best interests of the nation as a whole.

Regional support
“I have been in contact with the government of Australia and Papua New Guinea seeking their assistance to assist our country which is forthcoming. We cannot allow our country, people and our future to be held at ransom by very few people representing their own narrow interests,” he said.

“I am extremely saddened that people have been misled by politicians for their own agenda. Our unsuspecting people have continuously been misled and are victims in this sad and unfortunate situation.

“I do not blame the people who are protesting and rioting, they are citizens of our country, and unfortunately they have been used by certain politicians and individuals to further their own selfish and narrow agendas.”

Robert Iroga is editor of Solomon Business Magazine. This article is republished with permission.

The burning of Chinatown is moving westward one building at a time. View from my quarantine hotel. #Chinatown #Riot #Honiara #SolomonIslands ?? pic.twitter.com/ejyglnSjxE

— mytagimoucia (@mytagimoucia) November 25, 2021

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz