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PORT MORESBY - Australia has stopped a Solomon Islands minister from transiting through Australia in retaliation for the Pacific nation's appointment of Julian Moti as its attorney-general.
Moti, a lawyer wanted in Australia on child sex charges, was sworn in as the Solomons top law officer last week.
Solomons Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare has rejected efforts to extradite his friend Moti, claiming Australia is seeking him for political reasons.
Australia's Foreign Minister Alexander Downer last week said Moti's appointment made the Solomons a laughing stock and blocked Solomons Planning Minister Steve Abana from making a transit stop.
Abana was returning to the Solomons from Turkey last week and was forced to reroute through Singapore and Papua New Guinea after being barred from a flight to Australia, the Solomon Star newspaper said.
Solomons Commerce Minister Peter Shanel was also refused permission to enter Australia last week to attend a meeting in Brisbane, the paper said.
Sogavare today said Canberra's travel restrictions were a cowardly way to apply pressure his government.
But he said his government would not (not) play tit-for-tat and implement a mirror ban on Australian ministers and MPs visiting the Solomons.
His government was "too civilised and mature to resort to any such nave retaliatory action," Sogavare said in a statement.
The prime minister also condemned Downer for penning an open letter, published in Solomons newspapers, objecting to Moti's appointment.
Downer had belittled his status by writing the letter and should have expressed his concerns through Australia's high commissioner in Honiara, Sogavare said.
Meanwhile, Sogavare has avoided an Opposition motion of no confidence in his leadership, sparked by the Moti affair.
The motion had been scheduled to proceed on Friday, but Sogavare has announced a delay in the resumption of parliament until August 7, citing constitutional reasons.
He denied reports that at least eight members of his government were prepared to cross the floor on the Moti issue.
- AAP
