NZ forces building stable Solomons

NZ forces have been cut since April's violent riots in Honiara, but they are still helping keep the peace. Picture / Reuters

When East Timor went up in flames in May, the smoke obscured another South Pacific trouble spot - the Solomon Islands.

Just weeks before, rioting in Honiara had dominated the headlines, but the Solomons quickly faded from prominence as New Zealand soldiers were rushed to Dili.

Many of the personnel New Zealand sent to the Solomons to quell violence sparked by the contentious election of Snyder Rini as Prime Minister have now returned home, but there are still 44 Defence Force personnel and 35 police officers serving in the Solomons as part of the multinational Regional Assistance Mission, Ramsi.

Major Andrew Brown acknowledged the Solomons might be the forgotten trouble spot in the Pacific, but said that was partly because international military and police had succeeded in bringing relative calm to Honiara - a city which endured rioting, looting and arson before order was restored.

"My perspective is that there's an underlying uncertainty about the place," Major Brown said.

"We are part of providing that safe and secure environment for Solomon Islanders and part of that is to have a decent police and military presence to give the local people a sense of confidence that they can go back and get into their daily lives and get back into their normal routine.

"I've been here 2 1/2 months ... and we've certainly seen a much, much higher degree of normalcy in the area of operation, which is encouraging."

During that 2 1/2 months Mr Rini resigned, to be replaced by Mannesah Sogavare. On Friday the Solomons celebrated the 28th anniversary of becoming an independent nation.

New Zealand soldiers have four main jobs in the Solomons: guarding Rove Prison, patrolling in Honiara, visiting outlying islands, and supporting police missions. The latter was a delicate mission which took quite a lot of tact and diplomacy, Major Brown said.

"You've got to think long-term in the Solomon Islands. It was not even three months ago that we had civil disturbances and rioting in downtown Honiara and it did create an enormous amount of damage. It was very unsettling for the community, and there's no doubt there's still a lot of work to be done."

Some rebuilding work is under way. Chinatown, which was devastated by the April rioting, has been largely cleared and construction crews are moving in. Ramsi special co-ordinator James Batley said there was no sense of obvious tension in Honiara, although people could get "a little bit skittish" if rumours started to fly around the city.

"There's no sense of this being a town on the edge," he said.

"This is a place where for weeks people have just been going about their business in a very ordinary way ... there is a bit of a sense of a summer storm about it, that it blew up and then burnt itself out quite quickly."

Although the rioting severely dented business and international investor confidence, there were signs of confidence in the economic future of the Solomons, Mr Batley said. For example, the Casino Hotel - torched by arsonists during the riots - was being rebuilt.

But the rioting served as a reminder that the Solomon Islands was a country recovering from a civil war, Mr Batley said.

"It certainly underlined the importance of an international presence here for stability."

Ramsi's mandate is shortly up for review, but Mr Sogavare gave every indication forces from the Pacific would have a role to play for some time to come, Mr Batley said.

"They are sending very positive signals about partnership and co-operation with us."

A sign peace had returned to Honiara was a planned meeting of Pacific Forum economic ministers going ahead last week. Secretary to the Treasury John Whitehead accompanied Finance Minister Michael Cullen to the gathering, and said there was evidence of things coming back to normal.

"It was calm on the streets, one could walk around and feel reasonably safe and so on ... there is a feeling of the place beginning to pick itself up and move forward again."

FORGOTTEN FORCE

Kiwi support

* New Zealand presence in the Solomons as part of multinational Regional Assistance Mission, Ramsi.
* 44 defence force personnel
* 35 police officers

Duties

* Guarding Rove Prison
* Patrolling Honiara
* Visiting outlying islands
* Supporting police missions.