Goff denies he snubbed Solomons PM

Defence Minister Phil Goff has denied snubbing the Solomon Islands caretaker prime minister Snyder Rini during a 24-hour visit to the Pacific nation last week.

Mr Rini yesterday called New Zealand's High Commissioner in Honiara, Brian Sanders, to a meeting to express concern that Mr Goff had not met him.

Mr Rini last week stepped down as prime minister after riots - sparked by his election the week before - destroyed about 60 businesses in the capital Honiara.

Mr Rini -- who was accused of being in the pocket of rich ethnic Chinese businessmen and buying votes to stitch together support -- remains as caretaker prime minister ahead of a new vote this week.

Mr Goff today said there was no intention to snub Mr Rini.

He was in the Solomons for a very short time and decided to meet with Solomons ministers in similar portfolios to himself -- trade and defence.

One of those ministers was Manasseh Sogavare, who is now the opposition's candidate for prime minister.

"Priorities had to be set. I needed to meet people appropriate to my own concerns of both trade and defence that's why those two particular ministers were singled out for meetings," he said on National Radio.

Mr Goff said the only other political meeting he held was with a group of mainly opposition MPs.

The opposition appears to hold the numbers to win this week's vote and form a government, but Mr Goff said he met with the MPs because they had voiced concerns about the role and actions of the Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomons.

"The reason for my being in the Solomon Islands was to look forward to what the future of the regional assistance mission would be," Mr Goff said.

"It was from the opposition MPs that some sort of challenge to Ramsi's presence was suggested and therefore that was the group I most needed to talk to in order to give advice to my Cabinet back home about where we should take the security operation."

He said he had met Mr Rini several times before.

Mr Goff said revelations included in an email from an Australian official in the Solomons that Australia's high commissioner Patrick Cole tried to influence the choice of prime minister last month was "unfortunate".

Mr Goff said at all times he had tried to stress that Ramsi was completely neutral when it came to the Solomons political processes.

Prime Minister Helen Clark yesterday said the focus of Ramsi unlikely to change despite overtures in that direction from several opposition MPs.

Ramsi enjoyed popular local support when it intervened in the Solomons in the midst of a civil war in 2003, but it has come under increasing pressure since last month's riots, with many locals blaming it for failing to protect the 60 Honiara businesses torched in the two-day rampage.

Mr Goff was told last week by a group of mainly opposition MPs that once a new government was formed they wished to hold discussions with Australia and New Zealand with a possible eye to changing Ramsi's focus.

But Helen Clark yesterday said that Ramsi's objectives -- to help bring law and order, economic development and good government to the Solomons -- remained relevant and major changes were unlikely.

New Zealand currently has about 125 troops and 64 police serving in the approximately 1000-strong Australian-led Ramsi force.

- NZPA