Goff hints at price to pay in Solomons

By AUDREY YOUNG

New Zealand could be forced to intervene militarily in the Solomons if conflict degenerates into widespread civilian casualties.

Foreign Minister Phil Goff said yesterday that few New Zealanders would advocate putting their soldiers' lives at risk in the Solomons "in a futile effort to stop macho young men determined to kill each other."

"Yet should an escalation of ethnic violence mean a massive loss of civilian lives as in Rwanda or Kosovo, the pressure for intervention may become irresistible."

Mr Goff was speaking in Wellington to a seminar on East Timor organised by the Institute of International Affairs.

His comments come just two days after the collapse of the Solomons ceasefire between the warring factions, the Malaita Eagles Force and Isatabu Freedom Movement.

Mr Goff said intervention by Australia, New Zealand and others in East Timor might have led to an unrealistic expectation that whenever conflict in the region arose, a peacekeeping effort was always possible.

While suggesting that action was possible, he also outlined the long-term consequences of intervention in the Solomons' ethnic conflict between militant groups.

"A small disciplined Anzac force might readily be able to overcome the untrained and undisciplined youth who make up much of the militant groups.

"But that would not provide a solution to the political and ethnic problems which underlie the conflict.

"To the contrary, any death incurred by either militant group as a result of youths taking on New Zealand troops would result in blame, anger and pay-back being directed against New Zealanders for years to come."

Mr Goff said there was virtually no prospect of intervention in Fiji.

The conflict there was rivalry between different indigenous groups to assert their power.