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SYDNEY - The troubled Solomon Islands has banned its Australian police commissioner from the country as an "undesirable immigrant", further straining Australia's ties with its South Pacific island neighbours.
Solomons Minister of Foreign Affairs Patteson Oti gave no reason for banning Police Commissioner Shane Castles, who is holidaying in Australia, according to a government statement received on Thursday.
Australia's relations with the Solomons and other South Pacific island neighbours Fiji and Papua New Guinea have plummeted in recent months, with Canberra warning them its continued aid programmes rest on an end to corruption and the promotion of good governance.
Australia's top diplomat in the Solomons was expelled in September as Canberra unsuccessfully attempted to extradite the Solomons attorney general, an Australian citizen, on child sex charges.
The Solomons said Australia was interfering in its sovereignty.
Papua New Guinea (PNG) accused Australia of being a bully.
A coup in Fiji in December led to the military sacking Fiji's Australian police commissioner. Canberra in turn cut defence ties, demanding the return of the democratically elected government.
In the latest diplomatic strain, the Solomons said Castles' "continued presence here was considered prejudicial to the peace, defence, public safety, public order, public morality, security and good government of Solomon Islands".
Australia has spent A$800 ($903.13) million rescuing the Solomons from collapse since 2000 and sent police and troops to the capital, Honiara, to quell rioting in April this year.
It also gives PNG A$300 million a year in aid, part of a total of about A$760 million it doles out in aid to South Pacific states whose small size leave them perennially teetering on the brink of financial collapse and political instability.
- REUTERS
