Solomons leaders support plan for NZ-Australia force

By MARY-LOUISE O'CALLAGHAN

HONIARA - Solomon Islands political and civil leaders have endorsed the prospect of Australian-New Zealand intervention in the Solomons crisis.

Senior Australian officials said that a broad cross-section of the troubled South Pacific state's political and civil communities were backing the proposal of expatriate police and military assistance.

Hundreds of people had been consulted and the overwhelming response was in favour of the initiative, the Australian High Commissioner, Bob Davis, said yesterday.

The leader of a joint Australian-New Zealand scoping mission, senior foreign affairs official Ric Wells, said the mission had been heartened by what they had heard during two days of consultations in the Solomons capital, Honiara.

"We have not met anyone who has said to us that they were not interested in the offer of assistance we are willing to provide," Mr Wells told local Australian and New Zealand residents during a briefing.

The scoping mission follows Australian Prime Minister John Howard's offer last week to his Solomon Islands counterpart, Allan Kemakeza, of a comprehensive package of intervention in the Solomons' growing security crisis.

Mr Wells said Australia was working closely with New Zealand on the issue.

But both governments were now awaiting a formal request from the Solomon Islands Government.

Sir Allen, who wrote to Mr Howard last month seeking discussions over the declining law and order situation, has asked for the Solomon Islands Parliament to be convened on June 24 to consider the proposal.

"We welcome an early sitting of Parliament as one of the best indications of bipartisan support," Mr Wells said.

The Solomon Islands Governor-General, Sir John Ini Lapli, has already endorsed as long overdue armed intervention by Australia in the security crisis.

A growing number of senior political figures and some militant leaders are of the same mind.

Many people would see the inclusion of a small contingent of military and police personnel in a multinational effort to assist the Solomon Islands as a long overdue step, Sir John said in a report on the options for Australia's policy on the Solomons crisis, published by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute this week.