Air Force whisks Kiwis out of Honiara

Aucklander Ben Sutton, pictured at Whenuapai Air Base, says he is thankful the RNZAF got him out of the Solomons. Picture / Glenn Jeffrey

HONIARA - Tony Ashdown was glad to be able to hitch a lift out of the Solomon Islands with the Air Force last night after surviving a dramatic attack on his hotel.

The Hamilton man was one of the five New Zealanders, one Australian and five Solomon Islanders flown out of Honiara by the Royal New Zealand Air Force late last night.

Mr Ashdown had arrived in Honiara a week ago to set up a timber processing plant.

He was staying at the Pacific Casino Hotel and was in the lobby with other foreigners when a mob of 20 locals surged into the hotel.

"The initial fire-bombing was in a room across from my room," he said. "We all ended up in the same room across the hallway and barricaded the room as they rampaged through.

"It was more dramatic than frightening. We felt safe in the room as we had the doors and windows barricaded with mattresses. It was a case of waiting and hoping that the room didn't end up going in flames."

At that stage a larger mob of rioters stormed the hotel, running through the corridors.

"The place filled up with smoke. We waited and were then evacuated to the lobby."

The foreigners hid behind riot shields provided by Ramsi - the Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands.

"There was always a chance something was going to go wrong," Mr Ashdown said. "But we weren't lying there in a quivering mess."

Another man on the rescue flight, Ben Sutton, had arrived in Honiara from Auckland on Tuesday afternoon to install a security x-ray machine.

He was staying at the King Solomon Hotel and the first he knew of the night's drama was when he woke in the morning and found the hotel lobby unstaffed.

"Early in the morning I came out to the checkout and at that stage I wasn't sure what had happened."

He said staff from the airport drove him to safety.

He was taken to stay with the islands' head of civil aviation, who lived near the airport.

Mr Sutton said he was thankful to be returning home.

The men were flying back on the RNZAF Boeing 757 which left Christchurch yesterday morning with 55 New Zealand police and infantry soldiers on board.

Most had received notice only late on Wednesday night that they would be travelling to the Pacific hotspot the next day.

"We are always a wee bit nervous with something like this," said Corporal Aaron Bates while en route from Christchurch to Honiara.

The arrival of Australian soldiers and the imposition of a 6pm-to-6am curfew has seen a brittle calm return to Honiara after two days of rioting which has destroyed many of the capital's commercial buildings.

"Yesterday you could see clouds of black smoke billowing over the city. That's not there today," said Brian Sanders, New Zealand High Commissioner to the Solomons.

However, it was feared that the secretive lunchtime swearing-in of Snyder Rini as Prime Minister could act as a flashpoint for further violence.

The announcement on Tuesday that Solomons MPs had selected Mr Rini to become Prime Minister sparked the violent protests which rapidly escalated into full-scale rioting.

Yesterday several opposition leaders, unaware of Mr Rini's formal ascension to power, said the people had spoken and demanded he step down.

"The PM-elect is the former deputy PM," People's Power leader Robert Wales Feratelia said.

"It's the same party and the people absolutely do not like it. Therefore any media appeals by the PM-elect to the public to calm down will not be honoured and respected at all by the Honiara citizens."

New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said she was concerned that when news of Mr Rini's swearing-in became public, it would create further disorder.

A further source of tension could be Monday's intended first meeting of the newly elected Solomons Parliament, she warned.

"It's possible that there is going to be another triggerpoint for problems if the situation remains unsettled."

As Helen Clark spoke, the extra 25 New Zealand soldiers and 30 police were en route to the Solomons to join Australian and Fijian reinforcements being rushed to the islands.

Helen Clark said the rioting did not indicate the Ramsi mission was back to square one.

"I think what this shows is that stability in the Solomon Islands is a very fragile thing and is going to need quite a lot of support for the foreseeable future."

The Prime Minister hoped New Zealand troops would not still be in the Solomons in 10 years' time, "but I think it might be optimistic to say we wouldn't be there in one or two".

The 30 law-enforcement staff sent to Honiara will bring the total number of New Zealand police in the Solomons to 65.

- additional reporting Mike Houlahan