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Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Calm at Solomons capital after riots

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Calm returned to the Solomon Islands’ capital Honiara Saturday after days of rioting left at least three dead and reduced sections of the city to smouldering ruins.

Petrol stations, shops and other businesses began to reopen, with Honiara residents flocking to buy basic provisions as the violence ebbed.

“The situation is very tense and anything could happen anytime,” said Audrey Awao, a working mother who worried there would soon be no food left in the shops.

What began as a small protest on Wednesday quickly descended into a violent free-for-all, with poor Honiara residents joining anti-government protesters to rampage through the shattered glass and burnt-out remains of businesses for things to eat or sell.

For three straight days, angry mobs cut through the usually sleepy seaside capital, demanding the removal of Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare. 

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Two years of pandemic-induced closed borders have left the already ravaged Solomons economy in tatters, deepening widespread joblessness and poverty among the population of around 800,000.

“Now the PM needs to step down,” a self-employed 32-year-old who gave his name as Selson told AFP. “That’s the demand for all citizens ofthe Solomon Islands.”  

Local police said a forensic team was working to identify the charred remains of three bodies found in a shop in the city’s burnt-out Chinatown district.

Heavily armed police were a visible presence on nearby streets as locals began clean up operations and limited bus services resumed.

A night-time curfew and the presence of roughly 150 foreign peacekeepers from Australia and Papua New Guinea appeared to have helped cool tensions.

But the scale of the recovery was coming into sharp focus, even as the city remained on edge.

“It is very frustrating as it took me more than three hours to reach the fuel pump to get my vehicle fuelled,” Awao told AFP.

Many Solomon Islanders believe their government is corrupt and beholden to Beijing and other foreign interests.

“Most people are barely getting one meal a day, there are no tourists and very little economic stimulus,” Douglas Kelson, chief officer at St John Ambulance Service, told AFP.

“People do things they normally wouldn’t when they are hungry,” Kelson said. 

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