Cabinet to discuss sending force to Honiara

By HELEN TUNNAH and AGENCIES

The Cabinet will today discuss sending armed police or troops to the Solomon Islands to help restore peace as militants force hundreds of people from their homes in fresh unrest.

But a final decision on contributing to a Pacific intervention force may still be several weeks away.

The Solomon Islands have asked for help from Australia and New Zealand to quell increased violence, spearheaded by armed supporters of warlord Harold Keke.

Foreign Affairs Minister Phil Goff will meet his Australian counterpart, Alexander Downer, in Canberra this week.

A Solomon Islands solution is expected to be high on their agenda.

Both countries' Defence Ministers also meet this week.

Mr Goff would not discuss the Solomon Islands yesterday, but a spokesman said the topic would be discussed by the Cabinet today.

Solomon Islands Prime Minister Sir Allan Kemakeza has asked for an intervention team, including Anzac forces and others from Pacific nations such as Fiji, although a special parliamentary sitting expected to formally request help has been delayed until early next month.

Aid workers in the Solomons said at the weekend they were bracing themselves for an influx of refugees after militants torched villages.

Keke's supporters, who razed two villages on the main island of Guadalcanal, were lining up to 1200 villagers along beaches as human shields, said Police Assistant Commissioner Wilfred Akao.

"They kept villagers at gunpoint on the beaches to keep police from landing on a 30km stretch of coast," he said.

Keke, wanted for a series of murders, attacked the villages because he believed some inhabitants were informing police of his activities.

The Red Cross said 200 refugees were already sheltering just outside the capital, Honiara, and at least 1000 people had been left homeless by the recent violence.

Spokesman Rex Para said hundreds of refugees were expected.

Of several militant leaders, Keke is the only one who refused to sign a peace accord in 2000 aimed at ending three years of rival ethnic violence that has killed 200 people and displaced 20,000.

He and his men have been accused of killing at least 50 people in recent ambushes and raids.

Last year, he also claimed responsibility for killing a Cabinet minister.

Mr Goff has previously made it clear New Zealand would not send forces or armed police until it was formally invited, and would need the endorsement of the Pacific region.

That means a decision on a deployment could be delayed until August's meeting of the 16-nation Pacific Islands Forum in Auckland, although a special meeting of foreign ministers could be arranged earlier if needed.

Mr Goff recently said that New Zealand also had to be wary of the threat posed to any troops or police.

"We need to ensure that we minimise the risk to our own people," he told a parliamentary select committee.

"We need to be careful to ensure our presence there would be welcomed by the Solomon Islands people."