Another lost paradise: the Solomon Islands in revolt. Public buildings burned
Social unrest rocked the Pacific Ocean capital of the Solomonem Islands for a second day as anti-government protesters defied stay-at-home orders and burned government buildings.
Australia said it will deploy more than 100 police and military personnel to the Solomon Islands as protesters in the Pacific nation defied a government-imposed lockdown and set fire to buildings in the capital Honiara for a second day https://t.co/RuYqDZcVWI pic.twitter.com/DEH0eEjlHZ
– Reuters (@Reuters) November 25, 2021
A curfew was declared Wednesday after more than 1,000 rioters gathered in Honiara, demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare over foreign diplomatic issues. There was no word on what exactly triggered the outbreak of violence and or why now.
According to WaPo, dark black smoke filled the sky over Honiara on Thursday after rioters set fire to Parliament and several other government buildings.
Growing discontent over Sogavare's unpopular change of diplomatic relations from Taiwan to China in 2019 appears to be why the rioters are upset this week.
The situation continued to worsen when the prime minister made a request for emergency assistance to neighboring Australia. About 120 soldiers and police officers will arrive from Australia on Friday.
“Our aim here is to provide stability and security to allow for normal constitutional processes in the Solomon Islands.
“It is not the intention of the Australian government in any way to intervene in the internal affairs of the Solomon Islands. It is up to them to decide.
"We have always been there to help our Pacific family when they needed us, and now is a time," Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison told reporters at a press conference Thursday.
Mihai Sora, a former Australian diplomat in Honiara from 2012 to 2014, told WaPo that the capital's rapid deterioration "came as a surprise to many".
"If Australia hesitated, if it took days or weeks to consider a response, the situation may have deteriorated to such a low point where recovery would have been difficult," Sora said.
In comments to ABC, Sogavare dismissed criticism of ending relations with Taiwan in favor of Beijing. The crisis "is influenced and encouraged by other powers," he warned, but it is difficult to think that Taipei could have organized such riots.
“These same countries that are now influencing Malaita [the nation's main island] are the countries that don't want ties to the People's Republic of China,” Sogavare continued.
After these accusations the government of the Solomons asked for help…. to the country in the area with the worst relations with Beijing.
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The article Another Lost Paradise: Solomon Islands in Revolt. Burned the public buildings comes from ScenariEconomici.it .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/un-altro-paradiso-perduto-le-isole-salomone-in-rivolta-bruciati-i-palazzi-pubblici/ on Sat, 27 Nov 2021 07:00:08 +0000.