| Submit your comments on this article |
| Down Under |
| Australia considers deploying troops in Solomon Islands after violent protests |
| 2006-04-18 |
| THE number of Australian police injured in the Solomon Islands has risen to 17 and Canberra is now likely to send the army back to the country. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer today said there was a very good chance that troops would be given the order to move in. Fresh violence in the capital Honiara overnight, including the burning of shops and other buildings, has forced the government to consider a military deployment, with a decision due later this morning. "We'll have to give very early consideration today to whether we send elements of the army back there to restore order," Mr Downer said on ABC radio. "We have quite a few troops on 24-hour standby in Townsville. "We can send them pretty quickly and we'll be looking at that during the course of this morning. "But there's a very good chance that on the basis of the advice we've now had from Honiara that at least some troops will be sent there." Mr Downer confirmed 17 Australian and two other members of the Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI) had been injured in the riots. It is understood one officer will be flown back to Australia on Friday for further treatment. Mr Downer's comments came after the head of the multinational peacekeeping force in the islands said he would ask for extra help to be sent today. Prime Minister John Howard had already reaffirmed the Government's intention to send troops back to the country if the situation deteriorated. Speaking on Macquarie radio about the injured officers, he said: "There are no life-threatening injuries, but a number of officers have required surgery." Peacekeeping chief Will Jamieson, the Commander of the Participating Police Force (PPF), said: "There were some disturbances overnight but we are now in a calm environment, and we are working through that at the moment in conjunction with the Royal Solomon Islands Police. "We are talking to the Australian Government and the commissioner of the Australian Federal Police and looking at the numbers that we require here today. "The situation is calm, but what we need to do now is ensure we have sufficient resources to maintain that calm, and we need to sustain our position." The trouble began when protesters accused Chinese businessmen of bribing members of the government and backing yesterday's election of new Prime Minister Snyder Rini. One injured AFP officer was left with a possible fractured skull and a broken jaw; another had a dislocated shoulder and others had minor injuries. Mr Howard said: "We have a long-term commitment to the security of the Solomon Islands and we are absolutely determined that the Solomon Islands will be a stable democratic country and that can only happen if we go the distance. "It could well be that we have to send some troop reinforcements, it will depend on obviously the attitude of the government and an assessment on the ground by our high commissioner of the situation." Mr Howard said there was no indication that the riots targeted the Australian-led Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands. "The information I have is that it is an outbreak of hostility to the result of the election," he said. "There's no evidence of any hostility to Australia." Yesterday's violence was the worst unrest in the capital since Australia, New Zealand and other Pacific governments intervened in 2003 to end years of bloody ethnic gang conflict. The AFP has 282 officers in the Solomons. |
| Posted by:Oztralian |
| #2 or give them a tremendous wedgie! Oh the horror! |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-04-18 22:40 |
| #1 THE TERRIBLE SOLOMONS ...the natives of the Solomons are a wild lot, with a hearty appetite for human flesh and a fad for collecting human heads. Their highest instinct of sportsmanship is to catch a man with his back turned and to smite him a cunning blow with a tomahawk that severs the spinal column at the base of the brain. |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2006-04-18 20:28 |