The latest members of New Zealand's Defence Force and police contingent have arrived in Honiara
They are part of a regional peacekeeping force that also includes teams from Australia, Papua New Guinea, and Fiji.
Two flights landed in Honiara yesterday afternoon from ?hakea and Auckland Air Force bases.
They have been sent in response to a request for support from the Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare.
An advance party of the New Zealand Defence Force and police personnel arrived in Honiara last Thursday - a week after violent rioting rocked the city for days leaving Chinatown and parts of eastern Honiara severely damaged.
Earlier this week NZ’s Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta said the personnel would maintain peace rather than get involved in domestic politics. The same had been earlier expressed by the Australian Prime Minister, Scott Morrison
The New Zealand deployment is expected to be in the Solomon Islands for up to a month.
In separate news, on 3 December the RSIPF Commissioner appointed Mr. Paul Osborne of the RSIPF/AFP partnership program to be an authorized officer to assist the RSIPF in the performance of its functions under section 27 (1), and Section 32(2) of the police Act 2013.”
Today, however, PNG has rejected a request to operate under Australia
THE Papua New Guinea Police Forces Contingents will now operate on its own under the commoner of the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force (RSIPF).
This was confirmed by His Excellency, Moses Kaul, and Papua New Guinea High Commissioner to Solomon Islands.
He said, “When the Proposal came from the SI government, for ‘PNG Police Force to submit to Australia, when the operation orders are given for the deployment on the ground, basically we rejected the idea”.
“I’m not going to speak for Australia, I’m not going to speak for Fiji and of course New Zealand but this is PNG perspective.
“We come at the invitation of Solomon Islands Government, we want to operate under the commoner of RSIPF and that’s the position of PNG Government.
“This has already agreed upon the agreement between the SI Government Ministry of Foreign Affairs and PNG on Friday and its officials. PNG will now operate on its own under the commoner of RSIPF and that’s it,” he said.
He added, it is clear; it’s not only between PNG and Solomon Islands Cooperation in terms of Security.
“It is not a bilateral affair or matters anymore. This time as you can see, it’s a multilateral call for security forces to come under one arrangement to try to counter the recent civil unrest in this country and to ensure that, there is stability with Government. And the properties and Lives here being safeguarded and protected.”
“Those are basic things, taken into consideration,” he added.
High Commissioner Kaul said People would have come up with different perceptions and ideas, on the deployment of Australia, Fiji, and New Zealand and PNG security forces on the ground.
“Indulgent those forces are here actually, essentially on the basis to help restore peace and normalcy that arises from the civil unrest itself and that we are only responding to the request by your government,” he stated.
From PNG perspective, Mr. Kaul said “we want to keep the purpose of contingent coming here, straight to focus on the security aspect of it, at the end of the day; we are going back this is all.”
He said “We don’t want to create any other situation or any other influence of taking advantage of the security situations. We have to respect the integrity and independence of this country.”
Mr. Kaul also added that “Lets’ not forget this, it is fundamental, we have to respect that. We are not seen to be unfreezing; we are not seen to be under minding the integrity and capability of this country to be able to look after itself. So we will uphold that.”
In the courses of executing the peace mission here, at the same time we must respect and upload that, this is the PNG perception, we have no other interest for coming here, the High Commissioner said.
By convention during a period leading up to a Vote of No Confidence, I believe the subject of politics should be avoided and this piece essentially refers to the arrival and build-up of external police and defense personnel, but I end it with an extract from the Solomon Times Online which read.
Quote.
The visiting peacekeeping contingent is here to provide an environment conducive for the democratic process to take its course. That includes dialogue for all parties involved and seeking common ground if there is one. If not, find one, create one – pray for one, there has to be a way to move forward.
End of quote.
Sources. Solomon Times Online, Solomon Star NEWS, and Radio New Zealand.
Yours sincerely
Frank Short
