But there’s hope in the Solomon Islands

Pacific Casino Hotel... one of the casualities of the April riots.

Uneasiness abounds in the relationship of the new government of Prime Minister Mannaseh Sogavare and the leadership of RAMSI, the Australian-led Regional Assistance Mission for Solomon Islands.

New Zealand Army... to the rescue.

RAMSI is worried Sogavare will deliver on his election threats to prematurely eject the regional assistance mission from the island nation. The new prime minister, however, is cautious not to upset the status quo so much as to anger RAMSI and its two major financial backers, Australia and New Zealand.

Much of the apprehension is to do with grappling with something new and the unknown, political observers in Honiara believe.

Although this is Sogavare’s second time as prime minister, his government is nevertheless new to RAMSI leaders like James Bartley, who’s soon to complete his two-year stint as RAMSI’s special coordinator in the country’s capital.

Not lost on this seasoned Australian diplomat is the fact that Sogavare in the April election campaigned on an anti-RAMSI platform.

In his first media conference after his appointment as prime minister, the East Choiseul MP didn’t hide his clear intentions: Expatriates brought in by RAMSI must give way to locals, the University of the South Pacific and Waikato University-educated tax auditor declared.

On fire... almost the entire shopping centre at Chinatown.

Alarm bells were just beginning to sound in RAMSI when Sogavare dropped a bigger bombshell: appointing into his cabinet two members of parliament who are currently awaiting trial in jail for inciting the April riots.

This saw the burning of almost the entire shopping centre of Honiara’s historic Chinatown, as well as other large commercial entities like the 106-room Pacific Casino Hotel on the town’s waterfront.

Sogavare named one of those MPs as his police minister, whilst the other was given the tourism portfolio.

This move was something Sogavare had to overturn following strong protests and expressions of outrage especially from New Zealand Prime Minister, Helen Clark, and Australia’s Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer.

The two Solomon Islands MPs had to be stripped of their cabinet positions and two backbenchers promoted as replacements.

Though forced to eat humble pie for now, Sogavare’s decision to heed local and international outcry over his cabinet appointments should be a source of hope for bureaucrats like Bartley.

If anything, it shows the new Solomon Islands leader is open to suggestions and has the courage to make unpopular but necessary tough decisions.

As the Solomon Islands parliament convenes later this month to debate the future of RAMSI, ISLANDS BUSINESS magazine’s senior contributor—SAMISONI PARETI—was in Honiara recently to gauge the relationship between the Sogavare Government and RAMSI.

He reports in our cover story that amidst all the feelings of uneasiness and disquiet amongst the two sides, a ray of hope for the Solomon Islands is the willingness of both sides—Government and RAMSI—to sit down and talk.