Solomon Islands police have arrested more than 100 suspects as Honiara townspeople clean up after three days of rioting and looting in Chinatown following a peaceful protest.

The Royal Solomon Islands Police Force (RSIPF) confirmed this in a statement.

“I must make it very clear here that no one is above the law,” said Police Commissioner Mostyn Mangau.

“We are expected to live and make decisions within the principles of the rule of law regardless of our positions in our society. I therefore forewarned that if anybody is found in breach of such illegal activities, police will not hesitate to arrest and deal with him/her.”

Commissioner Mangau appealed to people to “stop the looting and burning”.

“Nothing will benefit you with such activities. Let me reiterate my call to those involved in those illegal activities to stop.

“These commercial infrastructures are the beating heart for the revenue of this country and that is where the benefits drift to service all our domestic services, even our wages and daily consumption.”

‘Respect each other’
The commissioner said: “My good residents of Honiara City, as we all know, Honiara City is a multicultural society. Therefore, I as your Police Commissioner hereby appeal to each one living in the city to respect each other, as well as our visiting friends from abroad.”

He asked people to ask themselves: “Is our actions fair to all concerned? Will our actions build goodwill and better friendships? Will our actions be beneficial to all concerned?”

Commissioner Mangau said police were working closely with the office of the Director Public Persecution (DPP) for possible charges to be laid against suspects.

SI$227m loss estimated
The Central Bank of the Solomon Islands has estimated the economic loss from rioting to be at least SI$227 million (NZ$42 million), the SBM Online reports.

Cleanup starts for some in Chinatown. Locals manning the shop can not control the mob that looted the hardware & plumbing shop. pic.twitter.com/kkjfItlaFe

— Georgina Kekea (@ginakekea) November 27, 2021

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Police in Honiara have confirmed that three bodies have been found in one of the burnt out buildings in Chinatown after the rioting in the Solomon Islands.

A protest on Wednesday calling for the Solomons Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare to step down lapsed into major unrest and three days of rioting.

A police forensic team are on the ground and investigations are underway.

A spokesperson said they are yet to confirm the identities of the bodies.

Local reports say the remains are of some of the looters trapped inside the building.

Most of the rioting and looting took place in Chinatown, and our correspondent there said only six buidlings are left standing.

No NZ plans to evacuate citizens
New Zealand has no plans to evacuate its citizens from the troubles in the Solomon Islands, Honiara.

A protest on Wednesday calling for the Solomon Islands prime minister Manasseh Sogavare to stand down lapsed into major unrest which local police were unable to contain.

A spokesperson from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said on Friday evening, the High Commission in Honiara is providing Safe Travel advice to New Zealanders in the Solomon Islands.

This includes following the instructions of the local authorities.

In the heart of China Town, where buildings are burning in all sides.This building stands. pic.twitter.com/H0Kgkf6kX7

— Charley Piringi (@cpiringi7) November 25, 2021

The spokesperson said any New Zealanders in the Solomons who have not registered with Safe Travel are advised to do so as soon as possible.

There are 43 New Zealanders registered on SafeTravel, all believed to be in Honiara.

New Zealanders in Solomon Islands are also urged to exercise care and remain where they are if it is safe to do so, a MFAT spokesperson said in a statement.

“Since 19 March 2020 we have advised all New Zealanders do not travel overseas,” the spokesperson said.

No request for help from Solomons govt – NZ
Earlier, New Zealand’s Trade Minister David Parker issued a statement as acting Foreign Affairs Minister, with Nanaia Mahuta overseas on her first official trip.

Parker said New Zealand had not received any requests for assistance from the Solomons government.

“New Zealand is a long-standing partner of Solomon Islands, and there are deep and enduring connections between our two countries,” Parker said.

“Our engagement in Solomon Islands is guided by the principle of tātou tātou, or all of us acting together for the common good.

“We stand with the government and people of Solomon Islands through this difficult time,” Parker said.

Australia has deployed police and defence force personnel following a request from the Solomon Islands prime minister Manasseh Sogavare.

Community step in to help police
RNZ Pacific correspondent in Honiara Georgina Kekea said police had been able to contain the crowd from going into the main CBD area in Honiara.

She said most of the rioting and looting has been taking place in Chinatown and not so much in the west side of Honiara.

Kekea said members of the community in West Honiara came forward to help the police and make sure people do not damage shops or buildings along the CBD.

“Friday afternoon, some of the mothers and people in the Henderson community marched along the main CBD asking those participating in the riots to just stay back,” she said.

“It’s the Eastern part of Honiara that is still not under control.”

She also said people were looking for food on Friday and that will be an issue for those in Honiara in the coming days.

Overnight curfew
The overnight curfew declared by the Solomon Islands Governor-General in the capital Honiara has ended.

Sir David Vunagi said the 7pm to 6am curfew would be repeated everyday until revoked.

Sir David had said it was a necessary measure for the preservation of public security.

Only authorised officers were allowed to move within the city during the curfew hours and anyone found breaching the restrictions would be prosecuted.

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

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

A deadly explosion in the Solomon Islands capital has caused fear and confusion about the ongoing threat posed by hidden munitions left over from World War II.

A central Honiara residential area was rocked on Sunday by the detonation of a buried howitzer shell which left one person dead and three others injured, two seriously.

The 101mm cannon round exploded in the Lengakiki area where four youth members of the Kukum Seventh Day Adventist Church had been holding a fund-raising barbecue.

An elder from the church, Lloyd Tahani, said the open fire they were cooking on was directly above the shell.

“Maybe, because they had been cooking a long time, it triggered the bomb to explode,” said Tahani.

He said the young man who was killed, who he identified as Raziv Hilly, “was hit directly” as he was cooking beneath a mango tree while the other three injured people were standing nearby.

The incident has left the people in Honiara shocked and scared, said Tahani.

‘Fear to the residents’
“It brought fear to the residents in Honiara because, you know, Honiara is where the battle between Japan and the USA finishes,” he said referring to the 1942-43 Guadalcanal campaign.

“You just don’t have a comfortable environment when such things happen. People just feel that we don’t know whether a bomb is still sitting under your house or somewhere where you’re staying.”

Raziv Hilly was a leader in the Kukum SDA Church’s youth ministry, according to Tahani, who will be sadly missed.

He was one of the country’s future leaders, according to a member of the Solomon Islands Parliament.

Peter Kenilorea Jr, who knew Hilly and his family, said he was a much respected youth leader.

“He was a very promising leader here in the Solomon Islands. He had a lot of respect,” said Kenilorea.

“He was one that had a lot of potential for us in the Solomons so it’s just sad to see him go this way. So the family is grieving at the moment and we send our love and our condolences.”

Hilly was also one of the country’s top aviation engineers whose loss is being mourned by his colleagues at the Ministry of Aviation and Communication, according to the Solomon Star.

The other three injured members of the church remain in hospital with one having received surgery on Monday for her serious injuries.

Munitions recovery ongoing
With Solomon Islands seeing some of the most intense conflict in WWII, the country remains littered with bombs, with hidden munitions an ongoing threat across the country.

The head of the police’s explosive ordnance disposal team, Clifford Tunuki, said they had responded to a number of unexploded ordnance (UXO) reports over the years in the capital.

“We keep a data base of the response we conducted and we have checked the history of that area,” said Tunuki, referring to Lengakiki.

“Our research indicates that it is no more contaminated with UXO than other parts of the capital.”

The last one was a mortar shell discovered in 2016, said Tunuki.

“Unfortunately citizens of Honiara can find a UXO anywhere and at any time of the year,” he added.

Norwegian deaths
Last September, two members of a Norwegian NGO working on munitions recovery and disposal were killed when they removed ordnance into Honiara where they had been staying.

Tunuki said he could not comment on that case as the investigation into their deaths was still under way.

The United States, which along with Japan is responsible for most of the country’s UXO’s, said in a statement through its embassy in Papua New Guinea that it is “deeply saddened to hear of the tragic incident in Honiara this past weekend and mourn[s] the loss of life.”

“The United States government, through our Department of Defense, will continue to support efforts to remove unexploded ordnance from Solomon Islands.

“Among these efforts is our ongoing partnership with Norwegian People’s Aid, which has worked in Solomon Islands since 2019 to identify and dispose of unexploded ordnance.”

But work by the Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) was suspended last year following the deaths of the Australian and British team members in Honiara, according to Tunuki.

Previously, the Australian and New Zealand military had removed more than 1000 World War II era munitions as part of Operation Render Safe.

Told to hire cleaning company
Meanwhile, the owners of the site of Sunday’s blast have been told to hire a clearing company because there are not enough police resources to check their land.

Tunuki said the scene had been secured and no other threats were detected.

But he said the landowners have been told to hire a private clearing company to check surrounding grounds.

“The problem for us to clear populated areas, then we would need more manpower and resources than we currently have.

“Until then, we can only respond to the community reports that they have located UXO and then we attend to [them].”

Tunuki said there were more recruits being trained for that purpose.

More knowledge needed
But more knowledge and awareness about the potential for UXO’s beneath existing structures and in established neighbourhoods may be needed, according to Peter Kenilorea Jr.

New commercial developments were cleared of munitions but people were not likely to expect them in the yards of existing homes, he added.

“I guess an increase of awareness needs to be done by authorities to alert people on the certain steps that they might need to take, even in an already established area, involving fires and then such,” said Kenilorea.

“I think such awareness needs to come back much more prominent in our discourse here in Honiara and Solomon Islands in general.”

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

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz