Decision near on Solomons mission

By HELEN TUNNAH

A decision on the makeup of New Zealand's mission to the Solomons will be made within days, says Foreign Affairs Minister Phil Goff.

The first police and troops are expected to be sent to the islands by the end of the month, in what Mr Goff last month described as a "significant watershed" for New Zealand's Pacific diplomacy.

But he warned yesterday that rebuilding the strife-torn Solomons would be a long and risky process.

The law and order and governance problems of the virtually bankrupt country were entrenched, and would need a long-term commitment to overcome.

"Anyone who imagines solving the problems will be short-term needs to think again," Mr Goff said.



He said doing nothing could lead to the complete collapse of the Solomons.

Any armed intervention then would be politically sensitive for the entire Pacific, and perhaps more dangerous for Solomons residents and foreign police and troops.

Mr Goff said an aid plan of up to $20 million - 2 1/2 times current aid levels - would also be announced when the size of the Pacific force was finalised.

He has said that between 100 and 200 soldiers and 30 to 40 police would go to the Solomons in an Australian-led intervention team which could number 2000.

The Solomon Islands last month asked Australia for help to restore stability and disarm gangs of criminals.

Its Parliament this week approved plans for the intervention, and is expected in the next few days to pass legislation giving foreign police and troops the authority to operate in the Solomon Islands.

Mr Goff said the military intervention would be short term, probably less than six months, but restoring Government services would take considerably longer.

He said New Zealand also wanted to ensure it had the means to pull out of any intervention process.

"It's easy to get into something and hard to get out of it.

"It's going to be a long process of rebuilding. It will be frustrating. There are all sorts of opportunities for problems to arrive."