Whats behind the recent turmoil in the Solomon Islands?
In 1998 a conflict developed between local tribespeople on Guadalcanal and a large number of Malaita people who resettled there after 1942. Beginning in early 1999 as many as 20,000 Malaitans were driven off the oil palm plantations of northern Guadalcanal by the so-called ‘Isatabu Freedom Movement’ and forced to seek refuge in the capital Honiara or to return to their native island. In June, 2000, a militia called the ‘Malaita Eagle Force’ and disaffected Malaitans in the police force brought the fighting to Honiara itself, and the elected government of Bartholomew Ulufa’alu was overthrown. Over 100 people were killed in clashes between the militias. The economy was destroyed, and large ‘compensation’ payments to gunmen and other forms of corruption have almost bankrupted the country. In July, 2003, Australia intervened in the conflict at the request of the Solomon Islands Government, and several thousand weapons were collected from the various factions. In April, 2006, just when it l
