Solomons PM secretly sworn in, troops patrol streets

Two women walk past a destroyed video rental shop in Honiara. Picture / Reuters

HONIARA - The Solomon Islands secretly swore in new Prime Minister Snyder Rini today as Australian troops patrolled burnt-out buildings after two days of rioting sparked by his election.

Australia said it was committed to restoring law and order in the troubled South Pacific island chain to prevent it becoming a failed state and possible haven for terrorism.

After an overnight curfew forced rioters off the streets of the capital Honiara, those who ventured out wandered along dusty streets strewn with broken glass and debris.

Smoke still rose from dozens of blackened buildings, their roofs now collapsed. Damaged shops were derelict, doors and windows missing, littered with refuse left by looters.

Burnt-out cars dotted dirt roads through the town of 50,000 as heavily armed troops stopped and checked other vehicles.

"The mob rule, the feeding shark, however you like to describe it, have totally just trashed the place," a Honiara resident named Paul told Australian television.

Violence erupted on Wednesday after Rini was named as the new leader. Rioters claimed Rini's new government would be heavily influenced by local Chinese businessmen and the Taiwan government, which the Solomons recognizes diplomatically.

Rioters and looters targeted Honiara's Chinese population of a couple of thousand, destroying most of the Chinatown district. Dozens of Chinese families abandoned their homes and are being cared for by the local Red Cross.

"The Chinese are innocent," said taxi driver Kingsley Sam, driving through tight security at Honiara's airport. "The Chinese serve us food and clothes. The Chinese are citizens here, too."

Rini was sworn in as prime minister at a secret ceremony at Government House and will announce his cabinet tomorrow, a government spokesman said.

The Solomons, a chain of 992 islands covering 1.35 million sq km of ocean, teetered on the brink of collapse in 2003 when armed gangs fought over Honiara.

Australia then led a South Pacific force to restore order, warning that failed states could become terrorist havens.

Australia, New Zealand and Fiji have committed an extra 250 troops to that peacekeeping force to back Canberra's interventionist policy.

"Failed states become the breeding grounds for all sorts of ideologies and attitudes and developments which can pose a threat to the stability of the whole region," Howard said in a speech late on Wednesday.

Honiara's normally thriving open-air marketplace, where hundreds gather each morning to buy food grown in villages outside the capital, was empty, closed for a second day.

Johnson Honimae, a government communications officer, said people were scavenging through the rubble in Honiara.

"People are still going to the burned out shops and trying to pick up what they can, but there are more police out on the streets now," Honimae told Reuters.

"Some services, including public transport, petrol stations, health clinics have reopened. Schools and banks are yet to open their doors," he said.

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer will visit the Solomons on Saturday and will hold talks with Rini.

"We have more troops ready ... if we need to send them in," Downer told Australian Sky Television. "It doesn't look as though we will need to do that but if things suddenly take a turn for the worse ... we can certainly send more troops in quickly."

The Solomons is an impoverished country where the majority of the population of half a million lead subsistence lives. Ethnic fighting between rival islanders and lawlessness have claimed hundreds of lives over the past decade.

- REUTERS