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CANBERRA - Australia replaced on Friday its top diplomat expelled from the Solomon Islands for political interference in a conciliatory move aimed at easing a four-month row between the two countries.
Australia imposed visa restrictions on visiting Solomon Islands politicians last September after Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare demanded Canberra withdraw its High Commissioner to Honiara, Patrick Cole.
Sogavare had accused Cole of courting opposition lawmakers and undermining a government-ordered inquiry into rioting in the tiny Pacific country last April.
Australia's Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said senior career diplomat Peter Hooton would replace Cole later this month, moving from his position overseeing Pacific affairs.
At the time of Cole's expulsion, the Solomons government said Australia was trying to bully its smaller neighbour and control its internal affairs. The row with its major donor provoked a no-confidence vote in the Solomons parliament which Sogavare won.
Australia's Prime Minister John Howard said Canberra wanted value for its A$840 million ($962 million) four-year aid package for the Solomons, including A$72 million in humanitarian aid.
Since 2003, Australia has led a Pacific-wide aid mission to stamp out corruption and restore law and order in the Solomons after the island country came close to collapse due to ethnic violence and mismanagement.
Nearly 400 troops and an extra 120 police from Australia, New Zealand, Tonga and Papua New Guinea were rushed to the capital Honiara after national elections sparked riots last April.
- REUTERS
