Solomon Islands plea for Anzac Special Forces

By MARY-LOUISE O'CALLAGHAN Herald correspondent

The Solomon Islands have requested the urgent deployment of Anzac Special Forces to the country's remote Weathercoast, where up to 10 people are reported to have been killed over the weekend.

News of the request comes as recommendations of last week's high-level scoping mission on the Australian and New Zealand-led regional intervention in Solomon Islands are due to be finalised today.

It is understood that the New Zealand delegation has already briefed Foreign Minister Phil Goff before his departure for the Asean meeting in Cambodia on Saturday.

Solomon Islands Deputy Commissioner of Police Operations Wilfred Akao said yesterday New Zealand and Australian authorities were last week asked to deploy their Special Forces.

"It's time we had some real assistance from Australia and New Zealand to aid us to deal with the situation," Akao told the Herald yesterday.

"It's guerrilla warfare so the only viable approach is to get Special Forces involvement and then may be have our officers work alongside them."

He said this view had been expressed strongly to the Australian and New Zealand delegation in meetings with the Royal Solomon Islands Police executive in Honiara.

A spokesman for Prime Minister Helen Clark last night said New Zealand would "consult other Pacific Island forums" before any deployment was made.

There has been growing concern over the number of kidnappings and killings on the Weathercoast this year, with 60 people still unaccounted for since being taken hostage by maverick rebel leader Harold Keke.

Akao said police had received a detailed account of an apparent ambush of a supply boat in which six people were travelling on Sunday night at Marasa on the Weathercoast.

The boat was capsized and the bodies of passengers were seen floating in the sea after shots were fired from the shore, he said

The boat, one of two motorised canoes travelling to resupply a local militia opposed to Keke's forces, is believed to have contained rations plus 500 rounds of ammunition and a SR88 rifle.

A separate incident on the same beach earlier in the weekend is believed to have led to several more deaths, Akao said, with some reports saying three men fighting with Keke's forces and one opposing them were killed.

Further police investigations were needed to verify the deaths but the security situation meant local police could not do this.

Efforts to capture or kill Keke were revived last October after he admitted killing his local member of Parliament, the country's Minister for Women, Youth and Sports, Father Augustine Geve in August last year.

However, the operation was called off this year after it resulted in more than 10 casualties, including four police officers.

Akao said police were concerned that Keke was receiving support from certain quarters in Honiara to regroup and rearm ahead of the planned Anzac intervention.

The Solomon Islands National Parliament is due to convene next Tuesday to formally debate a motion requesting regional intervention led by Australia and New Zealand.