Solomons accuse Downer of interference
Date: 08/05/06
By Lloyd Jones

 

 

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer is accused of interfering in Solomon Islands' domestic affairs by criticising the appointment of two jailed politicians to its cabinet.

Charles Dausabea was last week appointed police minister, and Nelson Ne'e, tourism and culture minister, despite both being charged and in custody over last month's riots which destroyed most of Chinatown in the capital Honiara.

Downer says the Australian government is concerned and disappointed at their appointments, especially given the amount of money Australia has spent trying to restore stability to the Solomons.

Dausabea is charged with inciting a riot, intimidation and threatening to destroy a hotel.

Ne'e is charged with organising an unlawful society and is alleged to have shouted out "dynamite the parliament" after Sogavare's rival Snyder Rini was elected prime minister by MPs on April 18.

Ne'e appeared in court on Monday for a bail application but the matter was adjourned until Wednesday.

New Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare has defended the appointments, saying they are innocent until proven guilty.

On Monday he said diplomatic relations between the Solomons and Australia were governed by the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations which formed part of Solomons law.

"The critical comments of Minister Downer not only fall totally outside the terms of that protocol but amount to a serious act of interference with the domestic affairs of Solomon Islands," Sogavare said in a statement.

His comments are a further sign of deteriorating relations between Canberra and the Sogavare government.

Sogavare has also made it clear he wants to reel in the Australian-led Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI), particularly in key sectors such as government finance.

The partnership between the government and RAMSI was not to enhance Australian paternalism in the Solomons and the Solomons retained total sovereignty to decide how it should conduct its own domestic and foreign policies, Sogavare said.

"Australia seemed to have used the provisions of the current partnership as a licence to infiltrate almost all sectors of the public sector," he said.

"By their high level engagement in senior posts within the government we have a situation where foreign nationals have direct and unrestricted access to the nerve centre of Solomon Islands public administration, security and leadership. This is an unhealthy situation."

Downer says he will discuss the appointment of the two jailed MPs with Sogavare and RAMSI when he visits Honiara in a couple of weeks.

Meanwhile, Sogavare has backed away from a call to review Solomons' diplomatic recognition of Taiwan, which after the riots was warned by Australia and New Zealand not to engage in destabilising "chequebook diplomacy" in the Solomons.

The prime minister said he considered Taiwan a reliable donor and good friend of the Solomons which along had helped the island nation during its ethnic crisis in 2000.

Sogavare said his prime minister's office would no longer directly handle hundreds of millions of dollars of aid from Taiwan but it would be diverted to other ministries.

Planning Minister Gordon Darcy Lilo told the Solomon Star newspaper the funds would no longer be used as a slush fund but be geared towards provincial development and be properly accounted for.

Mr Downer again said he was deeply disappointed over the appointment in the Solomons Islands of two jailed men as cabinet ministers.

"All we are saying (is) it's deeply disappointing that they have chosen people (in cabinet) who are in jail facing charges for inciting the riots," Mr Downer told Sky News.

"One of the problems of the Solomons Islands is that for years and years that country has had a culture of corruption."

New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said she was "aghast" at the appointments.

Mr Downer highlighted the fact that Australia had been extremely generous to the troubled South Pacific island nation.

"The people of Australia, through their taxes, are making an enormous contribution to the welfare of that country ... we've helped to improve living standards for the ordinary people of the country," Mr Downer said.

He is expected to discuss the matter with Mr Sogavare when he visits the Solomon Islands in the next few weeks.

"I can't tell him how to run his country or his government," Mr Downer said.

"At the end of the day, they ultimately have to help themselves, they've got to take responsibility for their own affairs."

Mr Downer said although the islands had many deep problems, the Australian-led Regional Assistance Mission in the Solomon Islands (RAMSI) was happy to provide them with considerable support.

"We hope that RAMSI will continue ... RAMSI will only work if core issues are addressed, issues like corruption, issues like inefficiencies."

Copyright © 2006 AAP