Calm yesterday returned to the Solomon Islands’ capital, Honiara, after days of rioting left at least three dead and reduced sections of the city to smoldering ruins.
Fuel stations, shops and other businesses began to reopen, with Honiara residents flocking to buy basic provisions as the violence ebbed.
“The situation is very tense and anything could happen any time,” said Audrey Awao, a working mother who worried there would soon be no food left in the shops.
Photo: AFP
What began as a small protest on Wednesday quickly descended into a violent free-for-all, with poor Honiara residents joining anti-government protesters to rampage through the shattered glass and burnt-out remains of businesses for things to eat or sell.
For three days, angry mobs cut through the usually sleepy seaside capital, demanding the removal of Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare.
Two years of closed borders due to the COVID-19 pandemic have left the country’s already ravaged economy in tatters, deepening widespread joblessness and poverty among the population of about 800,000.
“Now the PM needs to step down,” a self-employed 32-year-old who gave his name as Selson said. “That’s the demand for all citizens of the Solomon Islands.”
Local police said a forensic team was working to identify the charred remains of three bodies found in a shop in the city’s burnt-out Chinatown district.
Heavily armed police were a visible presence on nearby streets as locals began cleanup operations and limited bus services resumed.
A nighttime curfew and the presence of about 150 foreign peacekeepers from Australia and Papua New Guinea appeared to have helped cool tensions.
The scale of the recovery was coming into sharp focus, even as the city remained on edge.
“It is very frustrating as it took me more than three hours to reach the fuel pump to get my vehicle fueled,” Awao said.
Many Solomon Islanders believe their government is corrupt and beholden to Beijing and other foreign interests.
“Most people are barely getting one meal a day, there are no tourists and very little economic stimulus,” said Douglas Kelson, chief officer at St John Ambulance Service.
“People do things they normally wouldn’t when they are hungry,” Kelson said.
Anger was channeled directly at Sogavare and his government, with mobs attempting to torch parliament and the prime minister’s private residence as police fired tear gas and warning shots.
More than 100 people have been arrested for riot-related activity, Solomon Islands police said, as they tried to restore order.
“No one is above the law,” Royal Solomon Islands Police Commissioner Mostyn Mangau said, urging residents to “respect each other, as well as our visiting friends from abroad.”
As tensions escalated, Sogavare begged neighbors for urgent help.
In a letter obtained by Agence France-Presse, the prime minister told his Papua New Guinea counterpart, James Marape, that “certain elements” had “attempted to overthrow a democratically elected government” and called for peacekeepers to be sent for a “period of three to four weeks.”
In an address to the nation, Sogavare said the Solomon Islands had been “brought to its knees” by the rioting, but vowed to resist calls for his resignation.
The political situation remains fraught. Opposition leaders yesterday called for a vote of no confidence in Sogavare’s leadership.
They might not yet have enough votes to pass the motion and remove Sogavare from office, but the move could produce another flash point.
The pro-Beijing leader claimed foreign powers opposed to his 2019 decision to switch the Solomon Islands’ diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to China were behind the disturbances.
Others pointed to inter-island tensions and widespread joblessness among the country’s population — 40 percent of whom are younger than 14.
School bullies in Singapore are to face caning under new guidelines, but the education minister on Tuesday said it would be meted out only as a last resort with strict safeguards. Human rights groups regularly criticize Singapore for the use of corporal punishment, which remains part of the school and criminal justice systems, but authorities have defended it as a deterrent to crime and serious misconduct. Caning was discussed in the parliament after legislators asked how it would be used in relation to bullying in schools. The debate followed stricter guidelines on serious student misconduct, including bullying, unveiled by the Singaporean Ministry of
As evening falls in Fiji’s capital, a steady stream of people approaches a makeshift clinic that is a first line of defense against one of the world’s fastest-growing HIV epidemics. In the South Pacific nation — a popular tourist destination of just under a million people — more than 2,000 new HIV cases were recorded last year, a 26 percent increase from 2024. The government has declared an HIV outbreak and described it as a national crisis. “It’s spreading like wildfire,” said Siteri Dinawai, 46, who came to be tested. The Moonlight Clinic, a converted minibus parked in a suburban cul-de-sac in Suva, is
A MESSAGE: Japan’s participation in the Balikatan drills is a clear deterrence signal to China not to attack Taiwan while the US is busy in the Middle East, an analyst said The Japan Self-Defense Forces yesterday fired a Type 88 anti-ship missile during a joint maritime exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces, hitting a decommissioned Philippine Navy ship in waters facing the disputed South China Sea, in drills that underscore Tokyo’s rising willingness to project military power on China’s doorstep. The drill took place as Manila and Tokyo began talks on a potential defense equipment transfer, made possible by Japan’s decision to scrap restrictions on military exports. The discussions include the possible early transfer of Abukuma-class destroyers and TC-90 aircraft to the Philippines, Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said. Philippine Secretary of
A South Korean judge who last week more than doubled former South Korean first lady Kim Keon-hee’s prison sentence was found dead yesterday, police said. Shin Jong-o was found unconscious at about 1am at the Seoul High Court building, an investigator at the Seocho District Police Station in Seoul said. Shin was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead, he said. “There is no sign of foul play in the death,” the investigator added. Local media reported that Shin had left a suicide note, but the investigator said there was none. On Tuesday last week, Shin presided over 53-year-old Kim’s appeal trial, finding her guilty
RSS