Riot-hit Solomon Islands begin clean-up as foreign troops arrive
29 November 2021
After days of unrest and looting in Honiara, the capital of the Solomon Islands, security forces from Australia, Papua New Guinea and Fiji have arrived, responding to the Prime Minister’s request to help “secure” the country.
On Thursday evening, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced that Australia would deploy more than 100 police, diplomats and defence force personnel to “provide assistance” to the island nation.
On Monday, Fiji also announced its deployment of 50 troops, lifting the total number of peacekeepers to roughly 200, including at least 34 from Papua New Guinea.
Peaceful anti-government protests escalated into three days of violent riots after demonstrators burned down multiple buildings adjoining Parliament, and attempted to storm the personal residence of the Prime Minister.
According to local reporters, the rioters were met with police resistance in the form of tear gas, rubber bullets and shots fired throughout the capital.
Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare requested assistance under a bilateral security treaty that had been in place since Australian peacekeepers left the Solomon Islands in 2017.
Official reports indicate that many protesters in the capital arrived from the nearby island of Malaita, which in 2020 held an unsuccessful independence referendum.
Discontent between the two islands has been ongoing for decades, mainly over a perceived unequal distribution of resources and a lack of economic support from the capital.
Malaita inhabitants, including its Premier, have also expressed their dissatisfaction with the central government’s decision in 2019 to switch diplomatic allegiances to Beijing from Taipei.
Following the decision, the United States sent $25 million of aid to Malaita in 2020 - an amount 500 times greater than the sum of all the foreign aid received in 2018.
Analysts suspect the US is seeking Malaitan support for its own geostrategic struggle with China in the Pacific.
Prime Minister Sogavare has since refused to step down and dismissed other grievances protesters held about his government, insisting the conflict was solely over whether to recognise China or Taiwan.
Writer: Luc Hillion
Source: AP
