Editorial: Solomons monitoring urgent

If respect for order and authority has been broken, it is hard to restore. That is the challenge confronting New Zealand peace monitors who will be deployed to the Solomon Islands as part of a multinational force. Eighteen months of fighting between rival militias as grievances, past and present, were exercised undermined the rule of law to the point that the country stood on the edge of anarchy. The Townsville peace agreement, signed last Sunday, has averted that danger but not the threat posed by militants intent on reigniting the conflict.

There is an understandable concern that the soldiers and police sent to the Solomons will be unarmed. That, however, was a condition of the militia groups, who have agreed to hand over their weapons and send soldiers back to their villages. In the eyes of the Malaitan Eagles and the Isatabu Freedom Movement, unarmed peace monitors are helpers, not enforcers. Certainly, this approach appeared to work in Bougainville, where monitors stepped in after a decade of civil war. Bougainville certainly reinforced valuable lessons in peace monitoring.

One is that the momentum established by successful peace talks must be maintained. It is, therefore, vital that the multinational force is quickly on the ground, receiving surrendered weapons, assessing law and order needs and helping the restructuring of the Solomons police force. Delay provides the chance for rogue groups to disrupt the peace process.

New Zealand civilians will also be involved in a peace-monitoring council, which will help to rebuild the country's infrastructure and oversee the settlement of land grievances, the issue underlying the conflict. Some 20,000 immigrants from Malaita were evicted from their homes on Guadalcanal during the fighting. Compensation that satisfies them must be found. More fundamentally, a sense of nationhood must supersede inter-island division. Otherwise, volatility will remain close to the surface in the Solomons.