| Politics/ Solomon Islands: CRUNCH TIME FOR SOGAVARE |
Opposition turns the heat on
Dev Nadkarni
August may prove to be the most crucial month for Solomon Islands’ Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare’s leadership since he took over the reins of the country last year.
In July, just weeks after the appointment of controversial lawyer—and long-time friend—Julian Moti as the country’s Attorney-General, Sogavare began facing the heat from several quarters.
Moti was sworn in about ten months after the Solomon Islands Public Service Commission had stayed his appointment after it was first announced in September last year. Ever since, there has been widespread opposition to his appointment. Even after he was sworn in, the country’s deputy Solicitor-General, Francis Waleanisia, resigned in protest.
|
All smiles... Attorney-General Julian Moti with Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare (right). Pic: Solomon Star
|
Moti, an Australian citizen of Fiji Indian origins, is wanted in that country on child sex abuse charges concerning incidents that allegedly took place in Vanuatu in 1997.
Though the Vanuatu courts had thrown out the case, the Australian government has been demanding his extradition so that he can be tried in an Australian court as part of Australian law that requires serious offenders to be tried in its own courts, even if they have been previously tried in courts overseas.
The Sogavare Government, however, has refused to comply with Australia’s demand.
It has also consistently ignored all domestic opposition to Moti’s appointment to the top attorney’s post. Most of the senior ruling party leaders believe the charges against Moti are politically motivated and that domestic protests are instigated mainly by Australia.
Speaking to ISLANDS BUSINESS in May, Solomon Islands Finance Minister, Gordon Darcy Lilo, referring to Australia’s interest in securing his extradition, said, “As far as I’m concerned, it’s all fabricated”.
He also said Australia saw Moti as a threat. “I think Australia sees him as a threat...may be because he could create some difficulties for them having free access to their operations in the Pacific.”
Days after the appointment, there were news reports that Australia had enforced travel bans on all ministers and MPs of the Solomon Islands.
Reports also said that Sogavare would retaliate in a similar fashion. But both governments later denied these reports.
But a ban in place since last year after Australia retaliated to the expulsion of its High Commissioner, Patrick Cole, who had been accused by the Solomons’ administration of interfering with its internal affairs, however, prevented some leaders from transiting through Australia last month.
The Australians registered their strong protest against the appointment, with Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer calling it regrettable.
It is, however, the opposition from domestic groups that is getting more and more strident as each week passes. The nation’s Opposition Party called for a no-confidence motion against Sogavare when Parliament was scheduled to open in the third week of July. But it is now being deferred to August 7. Sogavare’s secretary John Roughan cited constitutional reasons for the rescheduling.
Media reports said Sogavare denied the postponement had anything to do with the heat he was facing on the Moti issue and rumours that many of his MPs were poised to cross the floor.
But Moti is not the only issue that has the country’s opposition up in arms. Last year, the government terminated the services of the Solomons’ national police chief—Australian Shane Castles.
Against RAMSI’s advice and in the face of protests once again from the Public Service Commission, government went ahead and appointed Fiji national, Jahir Khan, as the nation’s top police official.
Early last month, Khan submitted a funding plan to the government to arm some sections of the police force. The force was disarmed as part of RAMSI’s early action after its intervention in 2003. This is the first that rearming of the police force is being planned since then—and the Sogavare administration seems to be serious in following it through.
For when RAMSI’s deputy chief Jonathan Austin voiced concerns saying the Solomons was not ready yet for the move, Sogavare objected, saying the country could not live forever under a foreign-armed force and it did not need RAMSI to tell them when they would be ready to arm their own.
CONTROVERSIAL ISSUES
Guadalcanal MPs have come out strongly against the government’s recent moves. They have given the Sogavare Government 14 days to respond to a series of resolutions on the controversial issues.
Among these are the rearming of the police force and the demand to replace both the newly appointed police chief Khan and Moti.
Reports say most Guadalcanal MPs are opposed to these moves and have expressed solidarity to cross the floor should Sogavare ignore their resolutions.
Guadalcanal is the Solomons’ main island where its capital, Honiara, is located.
In a related development last month, a leaked Papua New Guinea Defence Force (PNGDF) enquiry report into Moti’s flight from PNG recommended that Prime Minister Somare be charged over the alleged escape.
After his arrest following his landing in PNG last year, he was offered sanctuary in the Solomon Islands’ High Commission in Port Moresby after being bailed out.
But with obvious help from highly placed authorities, he flew out in a PNGDF plane that landed at a remote airstrip in the Solomons.
Acceding to the Australians’ strong protests, Somare ordered an enquiry that made virtually no progress over the following months and was quietly wound up.
But this independent Defence Force enquiry report goes so far as to say it has found a high level of collaboration and collusion between the Prime Ministers of Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands over Moti’s escape.
Both Somare and Sogavare would undoubtedly find it hard to fend off these new allegations. Australia is bound to use these findings to increase pressure on the Solomons government on the Moti issue and renew its demands for his extradition.
As attorney-general, though, it is well within Moti’s powers to quash any notice against his own extradition.
As the Solomon Islands Parliament opens on August 7, the Sogavare administration’s survival skills will be put to the severest of tests that it has faced in its rule so far.
|
|
