Solomon rebels offer to surrender arms, want talks

4.00pm

Leaders of one of the Solomon Islands' warring militia say they were prepared to surrender their weapons, but want talks with the head of a peacekeeping force sent to restore order to the lawless nation.

Leaders of the Malaita island militia, which has controlled large parts of the capital Honiara since a police-backed coup in 2000, said they wanted a 30-day amnesty to hand in weapons.

They said the rebels planned a traditional surrender of arms to tribal priests on August 15 and invited peacekeepers to witness the hand over.

"We don't want to fight peacekeepers and we can't match them," Jimmy Rasta, co-founder of the Malaita Eagle Force (MEF), told Australian radio from an island near Honiara.

"All my boys, as former MEF, they're willing wholeheartedly to give up their guns...but if we give up at the moment it becomes a crime," said Rasta.

He asked for a 30-day amnesty to surrender weapons, saying time was needed to gather guns from rebels on several islands.

Authorities were expected to declare an amnesty in Honiara some time this week for the surrender of some of the estimated 1300 illegal weapons held by militants and the public in the 1000-island South Pacific nation that is home to 450,000 people.

Some guns have been handed in. On Saturday, the intervention force destroyed 25 weapons, consisting mainly of homemade rifles.

An Australian-led multinational peacekeeping force of 2225 troops including New Zealand police and defence
personnel, began arriving in the Solomons last Thursday to restore order in the former British protectorate.

Years of fighting over land disputes between militia from Malaita and Guadalcanal islands has left the Solomons lawless and near bankrupt. Embattled Prime Minister Allan Kemakeza earlier this month sought foreign intervention to save his country.

The intervention force's initial objective has been to secure Honiara using joint patrols with local police.

Australian diplomat Nick Warner heads the intervention, which also includes a long-term programme of up to 10 years to rebuild infrastructure such as finance and the justice system.

"I would be very grateful if Mr Warner...could arrive here and talk with us," said Rasta, inviting him to watch the traditional surrender of arms on August 15.

Another Malaita leader Simon Mani said rebels could not surrender arms to a foreign force.

"In our custom when a warrior's been to war and he came back, he surrendered his arms to the priest, so the priest can pray to the gods and the gods will then respect us and give us blessing," Mani told Australian radio.

"We cannot give our arms to a foreign intervention force."

In an interview with The Australian newspaper, the rebel leaders said there were no conditions for the surrender of arms.

"We want to make a lasting peace for Solomon Islands," Rasta told the newspaper.

Rival militia leader Harold Keke, who controls the Guadalcanal Liberation Front, has called a ceasefire from his stronghold on the Weathercoast southwest of Honiara, but has not offered to surrender weapons.

Keke is wanted by police for dozens of killings on the Weathercoast, including a government minister, and is responsible for terrorising local villagers. Hundreds of Weathercoast villagers have fled to Honiara and now live in refugee camps.

- REUTERS