NZ keeping 'air bridge' open two more days

By VERNON SMALL and NZPA

New Zealand Air Force planes will maintain an "air bridge" out of the Solomon Islands for two more days while the frigate Te Mana acts as an emergency backstop.

Yesterday, 74 people, including some New Zealanders, were flown to Australia on a Hercules. Most were Australians, Britons, Japanese and Papua New Guineans.

A further 85 people were due to fly to Australia late last night on an Air Force Boeing 727.

That follows the evacuation of about 150 people, mostly New Zealanders, on Sunday.

Foreign Minister Phil Goff said Te Mana was docked in the Solomons capital, Honiara, and could take 150 evacuees.

In an emergency it would be a haven for New Zealand High Commission staff and other countries' nationals.

It also offered reassurance to Honiara residents who were alarmed to see that New Zealand and Australia were evacuating their citizens.

"Having the presence there is a stabilising factor," Mr Goff said.

A rebel commander said the evacuation was causing concerns about intentions in the Solomons.

Interviewed in a bunker in Honiara, the Malaitan Eagle Force commander, who wished to remain anonymous, said the evacuations were unnecessary.

He said the militia had no intention of hurting foreigners, and their withdrawal seemed like a threat.

Mr Goff said the truce was still holding but the Eagle Force had yet to officially sign up.

He said Prime Minister Bartholomew Ulufa'alu was likely to step down within days.

Mr Ulufa'alu, taken hostage at gunpoint a week ago, was in fear for his life.

He might step down before Thursday's no-confidence vote in Parliament, clearing the way for a political resolution uniting the Government and the Opposition.

A Commonwealth delegation met Mr Ulufa'alu and rebel leaders at the weekend to urge peace between militias from the islands of Malaita and Guadalcanal.

The delegation promised to help obtain compensation for the victims of land seizures - which have been at the heart of the conflict - if the truce held and peace talks progressed.

Mr Goff said New Zealand would consider setting aside part of its existing aid budget to the Solomons for the compensation.

"We weren't going to create a bonus out of the situation caused by the unjust dispossession of those people. Unfortunately, Guadalcanal is the country that gave rise to the name 'cargo cult' and we are not going to maintain that cargo cult."

It had been made clear that those Guadalcanal people who had benefited from the dispossession of the Malaitans should contribute to the compensation.

Meanwhile, Mr Goff said the killing of a Malaitan by Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA) forces on the west Solomons island of Gizo was a payback for an earlier incident.

Reports indicated that 40 or so BRA members had since left the island.

The 19 New Zealanders living on Gizo would be flown to Honiara on the domestic airline.

"We will try to maintain our air bridge in order to bring those people out," Mr Goff said.

"We think that at the end of this exercise there will be very few New Zealanders there other than those involved in the High Commission or other essential work."

Individuals were being left to make their own decisions on whether to stay, although the Government was encouraging evacuation.