AN INQUIRY into the 2006 riots in the Solomon Islands has found there was no conspiracy behind the violence but blamed incompetence by the Australian-led police force, which failed to control the violence or co-ordinate efforts with local police.
A report, tabled in the Solomons Parliament by an official commission of inquiry, says there was confusion between the Solomons police, then headed by seconded Australian Federal Police officer Shane Castles, and police attached to the Australian-led Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands. The riots, in April 2006, devastated the capital Honiara and resulted in injuries to more than 30 Australian Federal Police.
The report found RAMSI and the Solomons police showed "dedication, patience and self-control", which helped to prevent loss of life, but failed to call a curfew or actively respond.
"There was clearly a failure in security in Honiara and indeed in the whole of the Solomon Islands," the report says.
"The two police forces … lost the initiative to control the escalating volatile situation. The two police forces went on to the back foot, and things went from bad to worse."
The riots erupted after MPs elected the unpopular Snyder Rini as prime minister. This led to the looting and burning of dozens of businesses owned by ethnic Chinese. Chinese businesses were targeted partly because of allegations that Chinese businessmen and Taiwan had helped fund Mr Rini to bribe MPs for support.
Much of Chinatown in Honiara was destroyed, and dozens of Australian police officers were injured during efforts to quell rock-throwing rioters.
RAMSI, which has 174 Australian Federal Police members and 90 police from New Zealand and 13 other Pacific countries, arrived in the Solomons in 2003 to end years of civil strife. Australia and New Zealand sent reinforcements of more than 200 soldiers.
A RAMSI spokeswoman declined to comment yesterday.
The federal police said it welcomed the report and would consider recommendations for improving efforts to develop and work with the Solomons police.
Jon Fraenkel, an expert on politics and government in the Solomons who was present during the outbreak of the riots, said the security forces were ill-prepared. "RAMSI were quite shocked," said Dr Fraenkel, a research fellow at the Australian National University's College of Asia and the Pacific. "They did not know how to handle it … The first response when the rioting broke out and a few cars were burnt was just to get out of there as quickly as possible.
"The violence had died away by the time they had additional police there."
with Agence France-Presse
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