Firefighters found six charred bodies yesterday in the rubble left by a pro-democracy riot in Tonga's capital, as the tiny and impoverished nation's government asked its larger neighbors to send troops to maintain order.
The rampage on Thursday by angry youths who overturned cars, attacked government officials and looted shops and offices before setting them ablaze was unprecedented in the normally placid South Pacific kingdom.
The trigger for the violence was anger that parliament might finish its session for the year without settling plans to introduce reforms that would give democratically elected lawmakers a majority in parliament over royally appointed legislators.
The six bodies were found in the burned-out offices of a power company and were believed to be looters or rioters because all company's employees had been accounted for, said Tongan Lord Chamberlain Fielakepa, who acts as spokesman for the king and like many Tongan nobles uses just one name.
There was no sign of further violence yesterday, though smoke from burning buildings hung over the capital. The government declared part of the downtown area off-limits and set up cordons.
Lopeti Senituli, a spokesman for Tongan Prime Minister Fred Sevele, said the government had approved flying 150 troops and police from Australia and New Zealand into Tonga to help ensure security for key national infrastructure.
Some 90 Australian troops and 40 federal police were due to land at the airport at 8:30pm yesterday, he said. Another 20 New Zealand troops "tasked with securing the airport" were expected by early today, he said.
The requests for help from Australia and New Zealand, which are considered regional powers in the South Pacific, "is to ensure peace and security" is maintained, and "an acknowledgment our security apparatus is ... short of manpower," Senituli added.
The two developed nations also form the bulk of a peacekeeping force sent to the nearby Solomon Islands to quell unrest and rioting there in April.
Speaking before Senituli's comments, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Canberra was ready to send police or military forces to Tonga if necessary.
"We ... remain prepared to help if we're needed," Downer told reporters in Hanoi, Vietnam, adding that Australia would expect New Zealand to "take the lead first and foremost."
New Zealand's acting prime minister, Michael Cullen, said yesterday his country would "seriously consider" any Tongan requests for aid, with troops and an air force Hercules transport airplane on standby.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese