Central Malaita Student Association Blog Site: Police mission to Solomons at risk of collapse

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.........................................WELCOME......................................... The Central Malaita Students Association (CMSA) is a multi-dialect and cultural Student Group Consisting of students from Kwara’ae, Langalanga, Kwai and Ngongosila, Malaita Outer Islands, Kwaio and Fataleka. Our vision and objective is to protect the norms and cultural values of our members while at the same time we enhance our academic knowledge and skills towards the promotion of development and the improvement of living standards in our respective regions. .............................................DISCLAIMER............................... The site welcomes any contribution by way of information, comments, news articles, photos etc from its members and interested members of the public to ensure we are well informed of all the developments in our villages, constituencies, regions, islands, country, region and the world at large as well. However, any transmission of information, news and comments is intended only for the use of the members of the Association. Any use or dissemination of information provided in this site in other websites or medium of information is not the responsibility of the Association, and the Association cannot be held liable for it. The contents of this webpage, unless expressly stated, do not comprise the views of the Association or any representation by the Association, but are views of its individual members. .

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Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Police mission to Solomons at risk of collapse

The Sydney Morning Herald News,
Cynthia Banham and Craig Skehan
February 10, 2007

THE Australian-led Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands is close to breakdown, with the Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, taking the unprecedented step of appealing directly to the people of the Solomons to stop their Government from expelling the regional police force.

With communication lines broken between Australia and the Solomons Prime Minister, Manessah Sogavare, Mr Downer published his appeal in an open letter in the country's media.

The move has infuriated Mr Sogavare, who complained yesterday that Mr Downer was infringing national sovereignty.

"He is very angry about this," said Mr Sogavare's spokeswoman, Deli Oso. "Australia has no right to communicate directly with the people. The correct channel is through our foreign affairs department."

The Howard Government believes Mr Sogavare is deliberately creating conditions to make it impossible for RAMSI, the regional police force, to continue working in the Solomons.

This includes its refusal to approve the visas of officials, its threats to repeal the act allowing RAMSI to operate in the country, and its re-arming of the Solomons police force.

Australia is particularly concerned about the implications of re-arming the police. On Wednesday, the Australian Federal Police Commissioner, Mick Keelty, who recently branded the Solomons Government as either corrupt or incompetent, warned that reissued weapons could be abused.

If Mr Sogavare persists, it could result in the end of RAMSI. The looming scenario is a meeting of the mission's member states at which a collective decision would be made to pull out. Such a scenario, the Herald understands, could unfold very quickly.

Mr Sogavare's Government has already withheld approval of the visas of 13 spouses and dependents of RAMSI personnel from Australia and New Zealand.

Australia is also extremely frustrated by the refusal of the Sogavare Government to meet its officials, including Canberra's new high commissioner, Peter Hooton, who has been in Honiara for three weeks.

The Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister, Patteson Oti, are also refusing to meet Australian officials who want an explanation for the expulsion of the Australian Solomons police commissioner, Shane Castles.

Mr Sogavare's office denied there had been a deliberate snub of Mr Hooton, arguing that the Government had been busy preparing the annual budget.

Mr Downer told the ABC in an interview broadcast throughout the Pacific last night that "ordinary people" supported RAMSI, and the improvements in security it had achieved, but "political elites" were resistant.

"In the Solomon Islands … the Government is trying to dilute the influence and the effectiveness of RAMSI, which is just about good governance, about helping ordinary people's lives," Mr Downer said.

He said Australia had "come up against a prime minister and a foreign minister who want to return to what Solomon Islands was like before RAMSI came in".

"It is Mr Sogavare's view that it would be better to get rid of RAMSI and to go back to the situation where the country was basically run by the Malaitan Eagle Force," he said.

The Solomons Government has recently made several claims to discredit RAMSI, including that prostitution was allowed on its premises and that Australia was behind a plot to assassinate Mr Sogavare. These claims were not only untrue but a "grave insult to the people and the Government of Australia", Mr Downer said.

Protesters in Honiara distributed leaflets opposing the re-arming of police. Church and community groups have been campaigning on the issue and trade unions are threatening to call a national strike to force the Government to back down.

But Mr Sogavare said he did not want to be dependent on what he regards as the excessively Australian-dominated regional police force, noting it had failed to stop riots last April.

He accused Australia of bullying and trying to "systematically destroy" the Solomons police force.

posted by administrator @ 3:22 PM

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