The New Zealand government is deploying dozens of Defence Force and police personnel to Honiara in the coming days “to help restore peace and stability”.

Since rioting and looting started in the Solomon Islands last week, Australia, Fiji and Papua New Guinea have sent troops to help keep the peace there.

An initial NZDF team of 15 will join them tomorrow, followed by a larger group of 50 at the weekend.

• READ MORE: Pacific regional response to Solomons post-riots crisis takes shape
• Other Solomon Islands crisis reports

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the response was short-term and to help restore peace and stability.

“New Zealand is committed to its responsibilities and playing its part in upholding regional security.

“We are deeply concerned by the recent civil unrest and rioting in Honiara, and following yesterday’s request of the Solomon Islands government, we have moved quickly to provide urgent assistance.

Samoan police are also on standby to send personnel to assist peacekeeping forces.

Unrest stemmed from protest
The unrest stemmed from a protest calling for the removal of Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare that spilled over into rioting and left major destruction in the capital.

Earlier today, it was reported that the Solomon Islands government had warned that instigators were planning what it called “another evil plan” to decimate the whole of Honiara.

A government statement said the destruction of local businesses was done by “heartless people with selfish agendas”.

It warned that instigators were planning a next phase of unrest, including the declaration of Malaita province as an independent state.

Malaita’s provincial Premier Daniel Suidani, whose administration has fallen out with the national government, denies claims that he instigated the unrest.

Malaitans played a central role in last week’s protest before opportunists and looters co-opted the mobilisation into major unrest.

Ringleader statements on Facebook
The government statement said it was aware of reports that ringleaders behind the unrest were openly stating on Facebook that “in order to build a new house, the old house must be first destroyed”.

“Such statements are not helping the volatile situation we are currently experiencing in Honiara,” the statement said.

“To the peace loving and right minded Malaitans, we should ask ourselves whether we are comfortable with the violent advocators to lead our people to an independent state.”

However, the national government said it was encouraged by “the wisdom of the majority of our citizens not to employ violence, looting or threatening tactics to impose one’s evil plan of decimating Honiara city, the capital of Solomon Islands”.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Fiji is the latest regional country to announce it is sending security forces to Solomon Islands where major unrest rocked the capital.

Days of rioting in Honiara by mobs who torched buildings and looted shops prompted the government to call for outside help.

In what’s shaping up as a Pacific regional response, Fiji yesterday deployed 50 soldiers to help keep the peace in Honiara, with 120 more troops on standby.

• READ MORE: Other Honiara crisis reports

They follow last week’s deployment of more than 100 Australian defence force and police personnel, as well as 37 Papua New Guinea police and correctional service forces.

Canberra has been playing a co-ordinating role with the other Pacific nations. New Zealand is also part of the conversation, although its role appears minimal at this stage.

Signs from both Australia and PNG indicate that, provisionally, their forces are expected to be in Solomon Islands no longer than a month.

The Fiji military unit is deploying as part of a reinforcement platoon embedded with the Australian contingent in Honiara.

120 troops on standby
According to the Fiji government, another 120 Fijian troops are on standby if required.

Over three days last week, many buildings were torched in Honiara’s east, particularly its Chinatown area — leaving at least three people dead.

The unrest had spiralled from a protest against Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare last Wednesday.

By the weekend, law and order was largely restored in Honiara due to the reinforcement of local police capabilities due to the peacekeepers from Australia and Papua New Guinea.

On Monday, the Solomons Parliament met briefly — amid tight security — to pass two motions. One was for the routine extension of the State of Public Emergency in place since the start of the covid-19 pandemic.

The other was to authorise expenditure for the massive loss and damage caused by the riots — estimated at US$28 million.

Despite the resignation of four government MPs last week, and calls for him to stand down to restore control in the country, Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare still commands a clear majority in the House.

‘Melting pot of the country’
The MP for Central Guadalcanal, Peter Shanel Agovaka, who is also Communications and Aviation Minister, said each time a group of people from outer provinces who were unhappy with the government, they tended to come to Honiara and destroy local business houses.

“I think people from other provinces should respect that as hosts of this capital we allow people of all provinces, and all denominations and all races, to come here.

“This is the melting pot of the country, and to see it in ruins like this is really very sad.”

According to Shanel, a lot of households had been affected.

“Eighty to 90 percent of Chinatown is burnt down. This is really sad, because these are innocent people,” he said.

“The way to remove a prime minister is through the parliamentary process. It’s not through the burning of businesses or private properties and looting them.”

Capital’s schools close
All schools in the Solomon Islands capital have been ordered to close early as a result of the widespread destruction caused by last week’s unrest in Honiara.

Education Secretary Dr Franco Rodie said the decision was reached after consultation with the heads of various schools and taking into consideration parents concerns for the safety of their children.

Dr Rodie said thankfully most major exit examinations had already been conducted and in class assessments will have to be taken into consideration for everyone else.

State of emergency
Forty-one out of 49 members of Parliament on Monday yesterday voted in favour of the four-month-extension, as proclaimed by the Governer-General, Sir David Vunagi.

Opposition leader Matthew Wale asked for clarification on the covid status of emergency personnel from Australia and Papua New Guinea brought in because of last week’s riots.

Health Minister Culwick Togamana said all foreign security personnel were double vaxxed and tested negative for covid-19 upon departure and again on arrival in the country.

Togamana also expressed disappointment in the poor uptake of vaccines with less than 20 percent of the population fully vaccinated.

Clean-up underway
The clean-up in Honiara is underway and church and community groups are turning up to clear the wreckage from last week’s rioting.

However, the riots have created a shortage of food and RNZ Pacific correspondent Elisabeth Osifelo said there had been long queues for the shops that were open, as well as for petrol and at ATMs while banks remain closed.

“The prices have sllightly gone up with rice and so it just depends on where the shop is,” she explained.

“I found out towards the eastern parts of Honiara because I think the shops are very limited that the prices have gone up and varying on different items as well.”

Solomon Islands police have confirmed the identity of the three bodies recovered from a building burnt in Chinatown during the violence — an adult and two children.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

An editorial in the Chinese English-language mouthpiece Global Times has accused Australia — and the United States — of “conniv[ing] with and even encourag[ing] the unrest” in the Solomon Islands after three days of rioting last week destroyed much of Chinatown in the capital Honiara.

“Even though [100] Australian troops and police were sent to keep order in the Solomon Islands,” said the tabloid newspaper at the weekend.

“What is right and what is not is obvious. Hence, aren’t [Prime Minister Scott] Morrison’s remarks of ‘not indicat[ing] any position’ actually a support for the evil doings?“

• READ MORE: Protests rock Solomon Islands: Here’s what’s behind the unrest
• Solomon Islands riots push nation into slippery slide of self-implosion
• Other Solomon Islands crisis reports

The editorial was headlined “Australia has fomented riots in Solomon Island”.

The Global Times is published under the umbrella of the Chinese Communist Party’s official flagship publication People’s Daily and is viewed by critics as often publishing disinformation.

“Defending against China’s influence into the South Pacific has been an outstanding geopolitical consideration of the US and Australia, which has been welcomed and longed [for] by the Taiwan authorities, because four of the remaining 15 countries that keep ‘diplomatic ties’ with Taiwan are in the South Pacific — and the future to consolidate such ties is uncertain.”

The editorial said:

Rioters ‘stormed Parliament’
“The capital city of the Solomon Islands has been under riots for days. The rioters have stormed the Parliament, set fire to a police station, and attacked Chinatown and other businesses there.

“Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare on Friday blamed foreign interference for instigating the anti-government protests over his government’s decision to cut ‘diplomatic ties’ with the island of Taiwan and establish diplomatic ties with the Chinese mainland. Though, he didn’t specify who is among the ‘other powers’ that fomented the violence.

“Sogavare emphasised that the choice to establish diplomatic ties with Beijing conforms to the trend of the times and international laws.

“The Solomon Islands is a country with nearly 690,000 people in the South Pacific region. After Sogavare assumed office in 2019, his administration made a choice to set up diplomatic ties with Beijing. However, the island of Malaita [in] the country, where most of the rioters are reportedly from, has maintained its relations with the island of Taiwan.

“The New York Times said the Solomon Islands has been in a ‘heightened political tug of war’, citing a former Australian diplomat stationed in the Solomon Islands saying that the US has been providing Malaita with direct foreign aid. Such analysis is representative of the US and Australia.

“Defending against China’s influence into the South Pacific has been an outstanding geopolitical consideration of the US and Australia, which has been welcomed and longed by the Taiwan authorities, because four of the remaining 15 countries that keep ‘diplomatic ties’ with Taiwan are in the South Pacific — and the future to consolidate such ties is uncertain.

“The South Pacific countries and the Chinese mainland have a strong capacity to cooperate under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative. Over the years, many small nations have, on their own, chosen to have closer ties with Beijing.

‘Dollar diplomacy, coercion’
“The measures taken to prevent these small countries from establishing diplomatic ties with China have included ‘dollar diplomacy’, coercion, and inciting unrest within these countries to topple local governments.

“Australia has been offered a hand to maintain security in the Solomon Islands. Recently, Canberra has again deployed more than 100 police and defense force personnel to the country. Against this backdrop, it is not hard to imagine how easy it will be for an external force to wreak havoc there.

“Australia, the US, or the Taiwan authorities haven’t admitted to being behind the ‘foreign interference’ condemned by Sogavare. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison insisted that Australia’s ‘presence there does not indicate any position on the internal issues of the Solomon Islands’. Canberra even alleged the move was in response to a request from Sogavare.

“Nonetheless, the Associated Press cited observers as saying that ‘Australia intervened quickly to avoid Chinese security forces moving in to restore order’. More importantly, neither Canberra nor Washington has condemned the riots in the Solomon Islands so far, despite the fact that the unrest has violated the basic spirit of democracy and the rule of law.

“Media coverage of the riots in the US and Australia was ‘matter-of-fact’ and highlighted the rioters’ political opposition to diplomatic relations with China.

“It is clear that Australia’s overall attitude, and that of the US, is to connive with and even encourage the unrest, even though the Australian troops and police were sent to keep order in the Solomon Islands. What is right and what is not is obvious. Hence, aren’t Morrison’s remarks of ‘not indicate any position’ actually a support for the evil doings?

“The government of the Solomon Islands and their people know what is really going on there. It is also not hard for the outside world to know. Prime Minister Sogavare noted there were other powers fomenting the riots, shouldn’t the international community believe the words of this legitimate leader of the Solomon Islands?”

And the PNG Honiara community out on the streets today for a cleanup session Pictures by Rodney Arofasei pic.twitter.com/HnRS3Pji6o

— Georgina Kekea (@ginakekea) November 28, 2021

Madang, today, is arguably Papua New Guinea’s province with the highest recorded crime rate in the country.

Madang has been making headlines for all the wrong reasons.

Crime has increased significantly in the last eight years and most of those involved in the criminal activities are still walking around freely.

People are demanding that police and the elected members of Parliament solve the rise of criminal activities in the province.

But it is also time that everyone, including communities and government departments, take ownership of the problem too.

In June last year, I went with Madang police into the Transgogol area to report on the killing of an elderly man where several houses were also burnt.

Police explained that the fighting had started in 2015 following the sexual assault on a young girl.

Sporadic fighting
Sporadic fighting had been ongoing in the area with brutal results.

Police had not been able to arrest suspects involved in the killing and the ongoing clash since 2015.

This, they said was because the local people were not cooperating with police in handing over suspects or providing information to assist police arrest perpetrators.

This has also been happening in the other parts of the province.

People are not handing over criminal elements or providing vital information to police to assist them with their job.

Last month, the Acting Provincial Police Commander, Senior Inspector Jacob Bando, announced there had been an increase in the number of murders.

At least one murder or robbery reported every month. Daily reports from stakeholders indicate the figure is higher.

In Bogia district, a man was killed after he was suspected of practising sorcery.

Robbing major supermarkets
Criminals are robbing major supermarkets within the town vicinity and escaping on boats.

These criminal activities are taking a toll on the public who are angry about the situation.

While the public are waiting for their elected members and police to solve those problems they also forget they can also help.

Yes, police have the duty to maintain law and order. But we, the public, also have the duty to our children, our province to report those who commit crimes.

Those very people who we protect and shelter in our communities will one day turn on us. They will rob us or even worse – kill us.

Because we take pity on them when we should have hand them over to police when we have the chance to do so.

While I try not be being biased as a female journalist working in Madang, I can state from a position of authority, that police cannot do everything without the cooperation and support from us the citizens.

Senior police officers I have interviewed admit they face serious problems like manpower shortages and housing problems. They work in rundown police stations, use old police vehicles and the list goes on.

Those problems exist and the noncooperation from citizens in helping them put criminals behind bars makes their job more challenging.

If you want to help Madang regain its one time a time tag “as beautiful Madang”, the change should start with us before we look any further or point fingers.

Martha Louis is the Madang staff journalist of EMTV News. This article was originally published on Scott Waide’s blog My Land, My Country.

• More PNG stories

By Kendall Hutt in Auckland

Journalism students from across the Pacific will have the opportunity to understand one another’s news cultures as the Pacific Cooperation Foundation’s media programme enters its third year.

Two final year student journalists from New Zealand will head to the Pacific next month, while three Pacific-based student journalists will travel to New Zealand for the two-week internship.

Michelle Curran, project manager of the PCF media programme, says the exchange aims to offer a regional perspective to participating interns.

“Our hope is for interns to gain a broader awareness of how media operates in different countries, the differences in resources available, and to broaden their network.

“The ideal outcome is to produce journalists with an in-depth regional perspective and knowledge of Pacific issues.”

One of these journalists is Auckland University of Technology’s Brandon Ulfsby, who is bound for Samoa.

Ulfsby says his motivation for applying stems from the fact Pacific news is an area which can be expanded on.

‘Make Pacific mainstream’
“I definitely think there is a lot more room to kind of build on existing platforms and really make the Pacific the mainstream, because I feel at the moment it’s quite situated in itself, that it’s separate news, it’s Pacific news that only people who are interested in it sort of focus on it.”

This absence is something the PCF has identified, Curran says.

“These students will eventually help raise the standard of journalism in the region, and increase the awareness of Pacific issues in New Zealand.”

Ulfsby, who is of Cook Islands descent, says he is looking forward to highlighting the human face of the Pacific.

“Really delving into the lives of people is something I want to cover.”

Having the ability to network and work alongside senior journalists and editors is also an important opportunity, Ulfsby says.

“It’s just experiencing a different newsroom culture and at the same time I want to elevate Pacific stories and give those people a voice, so that other people can hear them and possibly influence change.”

‘Every day reality’
For Shivika Mala and Linda Filiai, both from the University of the South Pacific, bringing awareness to climate change while in New Zealand will be key.

“I will try to inform New Zealanders about the effects of climate change in the Pacific. I do understand that New Zealand and the Pacific Islands prioritise different issues.

“It’s important for the people in New Zealand to know that some people in the Pacific Islands are suffering from extreme weather events such as cyclones, coastal erosion, droughts, and water shortages.

“Sea level rise is one of the greatest challenges,” Filiai says.

Mala, however, is determined to convey that climate change is an every day reality for the Pacific.

“It’s funny how some people are not aware about climate change and how the Pacific Island countries are vulnerable to its effects.

“It is our everyday reality and people must know about it because sadly, we are the ones who contribute to it.”

Filiai and Mala acknowledge they have been given a rare opportunity.

“This is a great opportunity for us in the Pacific to experience how news media operates in a developed country like New Zealand.”

Joshua Kiruhia of Divine Word University in Papua New Guinea will join Filiai and Mala in New Zealand, while Massey University’s Safia Archer will also head to the Pacific.

The Pacific Media Centre at AUT will host the Pacific regional students for half a day on their New Zealand programme.

The PCF media programme will take place between June 26-July 11.

• PCF student interns gain new perspectives
• Storytellers of the Pacific challenge old societal norms