Hercules breakdown delays Solomons flights

3.00pm

Both Hercules transport planes being used to ferry personnel and equipment to the Solomon Islands have been delayed because of mechanical problems.

Air force spokesman Squadron Leader Ric Cullinane told NZPA that an engine on one Hercules which was due to leave on Tuesday had been replaced and it was hoped the aircraft could depart tomorrow.

A second Hercules which was due to leave at 6am today also experienced mechanical problems delaying departure.

Squadron leader Cullinane said engineers at Ohakea near Palmerston North were working hard to get the planes in the air.

The plane due to have left this morning had on board the last of four Iroquois helicopters being sent to the Solomons as part of New Zealand's contribution to an Australian-led intervention force of police and military to restore law and order to the troubled islands.

Today in the Solomons, Prime Minister Allan Kemakeza announced a 21-day amnesty for Solomon Islanders to hand in illegal firearms or face up to 10-year jail sentence, news agency AAP reported.

Australia would deploying a further 100 international police from August 15 to help with the weapons collection.

It follows further advancements yesterday when the head of the intervention force won a disarmament commitment from one of the Solomon Islands' most notorious militias as the lawless nation's premier reshuffled his embattled government.

Nick Warner, head of the 2,225-strong multinational force of troops and police, flew to the provincial capital of Auki on Malaita Island to meet militia leader Jimmy Rasta, co-founder of the Malaita Eagles Force (MEF) which has virtually held the Solomons to ransom since a police-backed coup in 2000.

"I made clear to them that the time for guns was over. I made clear to them that the time of violence was over," Warner told reporters after the meeting.

Rasta reiterated after the meeting an earlier offer to hand back their weapons under a 30-day amnesty. They plan a traditional surrender of arms to tribal priests on August 15.

"Those are the weapons we were using during the ethnic war. They could be high-powered weapons, home-made as well," he said.

The Australian-led force, the biggest military deployment in the South Pacific since World War Two, is seeking to reclaim some of the estimated 1,300 illegal weapons in circulation.

Many of the weapons, including high-powered rifles, were stolen by the MEF from the police armoury in the capital Honiara during the 2000 coup. The MEF has controlled large parts of the former British protectorate's capital since the coup.

Hundreds have died in fighting between Malaitans and rival militiamen from the main Guadalcanal island over land disputes since 1998, leaving the Solomons teetering on the edge of bankruptcy after years of brazen extortion by militias.

The force's attention will also now turn to notorious Guadalcanal warlord Harold Keke, accused of killing dozens of people including a government MP last year. Observers said two boats arrived in Honiara on Wednesday from Keke's Weathercoast stronghold carrying weapons and artillery shells.

Peacekeepers have also vowed to rid the local police force of the "thieves, drunkards and extortionists" which have rendered it ineffective, resulting in Prime Minister Allan Kemakeza's plea earlier this month for international help.

With the intervention force in control in Honiara since it began arriving last Thursday, Kemekeza took the opportunity to reshuffle his cabinet and drop his controversial deputy Snyder Rini from the finance portfolio.

Rini was demoted to the eduction ministry and was replaced as finance minister by former Education Minister Francis Zama, a former senior official in the Solomon Islands Central Bank, Australian radio said. Rini is out of the country, attending meetings of Pacific Island leaders in Tahiti.

The intervention force will also attempt to rebuild shattered Solomons institutions, including the financial system, a task which could take years.

- NZPA and REUTERS