Unarmed peace monitors for Solomon Islands

SUVA (PINA Nius Online) – Unarmed Australian and New Zealand soldiers and police will be among peace monitors sent to the Solomon Islands, the New Zealand Herald reported in Auckland today.

The militia groups have asked that the monitors be unarmed, and in return have agreed to hand over their weapons – ranging from automatic weapons to machetes – and send soldiers back to their villages, the Herald said.

New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Phil Goff will today ask the cabinet to approve the request in principle, and the monitors could be in the Solomons within 30 days, the newspaper said.

Details of the make-up and size of the New Zealand contribution to the peacekeeping force are still being worked out. But Mr. Goff said last night that he expected New Zealand’s input would be much smaller than in East Timor.

“It will be measured in the tens rather than the hundreds,” he said.

New Zealand and Australian have been asked for help in keeping the peace following the signing of the peace agreement after six days of talks in Townsville, Australia.

Mr. Goff said that while he was mindful of the danger, he believed it appropriate for the peace monitoring group to be unarmed.

“The benefit of that was shown in Bougainville, where, notwithstanding years of bloody fighting, people respected the peace monitoring as being there to help,” he said.

“Obviously we will play things carefully There will be contingencies in place so that if things go wrong, we will not leave our people in a position of unacceptable risk,” said Mr. Goff.

The 20-page agreement, reached at the Garbutt Air Force Base in Townsville, northern Australia, includes a weapons amnesty. Weapons will have to be handed in to designated police commanders in the next 30 days and be made available for inspection by the international monitoring team, the New Zealand Herald said.

It said other details of the deal include setting up demilitarized zones and using former militia fighters in a public works program.

A commission of inquiry will also look at the land grievances of 20,000 Malaitans driven out of Guadalcanal during the conflict.

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer told Radio Australia that Australia should be proud of the role it has played in striking the peace deal.

Mr. Downer said it is an enormous breakthrough after months of violence.

He said: “It’s clear that the parties have recognized a simple point and that is unless there is peace in Solomon Islands the country will simply disintegrate. And I’m delighted that they’ve taken that message to heart and that a peace agreement has been signed. ”

Background: A ceasefire in Solomon Islands follows ethnic conflict which engulfed Guadalcanal, the island on which the capital, Honiara, is located.

The ethnic conflict began when Guadalcanal militants tried to drive out settlers from another island, Malaita, claiming they dominated government and business and were taking over Guadalcanal land.

Honiara has been under the control of a joint operation of the Malaita Eagle Force militia and elements of the paramilitary police field force. The Guadalcanal countryside is largely under the control of Guadalcanal’s Isatabu Freedom Movement militia.

More than 130 representatives of the factions and the Solomons Government spent six days working out the agreement, building on talks held in August on board the New Zealand navy frigate Te Kaha at Honiara.

The government and militia force participants in the talks were brought to Townsville on New Zealand and Australian Air Force Hercules transport aircraft.

Senior officials from both countries and the Commonwealth Secretariat sat in on the talks.

New Zealand’s representative was Vince McBride, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade official who was also sent to Fiji at the time of its May coup.

Mr. Goff said Mr. McBride’s role was simply to observe.

“Our focus was on allowing talks to happen, rather than determining what happened, because the solution needed to be owned by the parties,” he said.