NIPS welcomes abandonment of patent application involving SI samples

The Network of the Indigenous Peoples-Solomons (NIPS) welcomes the abandonment of a US patent application that uses genetic samples from Solomon Islanders, in a case that raises major ethical questions.

According to the USPTO’s Patent Application Information Retrieval system, US based lawyers representing Taiwanese scientist, Dr. Ko Ying-Chin filed an express abandonment application on April 01st, 2011 at 2:53pm EDT for the patent application number US20100248253.

The express abandonment was subsequently processed by the USPTO on April 4th, 2011 and now the status of the US patent application is listed as “expressly abandoned (during examination).”
Effectively, the patent application is now stopped. This patent application entitled “Method and Kit for Assessing Risk of Gout and Hyperuricemia,” uses samples from 192 Solomon Islanders,
collected at the National Referral Hospital and two clinics in Guadalcanal Province during a research trip led by Dr. Ko in September 2006.

Dr. Ko and his colleagues only abandoned the patent application after NIPS, along with other non-governmental organizations in the Solomon Islands, began to publicly challenge it. The basis of this challenge was Dr. Ko’s failure to obtain proper informed consent from the blood donors for such commercialization.

The informed consent given by blood donors in September 2006 was limited to medical research uses, and contained no mention of using the samples for patenting and other commercial purposes.

NIPS emphasizes the patent application which used the blood samples from unknowing indigenous Solomon Islanders clearly involved serious ethicalbreaches on the part of the Taiwanese medical researcher and three of his colleagues who were listed as patent applicants.

This    Non-Government    Organization    says    whilst    it    welcomes    the abandonment, it is still eager to receive a reply from Dr. Ko on questions that need be answered including whether any cell lines of the Solomon Islanders were immortalized, and if any samples were shared with
other researchers or institutions in Taiwan and abroad.

The NIPS adds that it further welcomes Dr Ko’s response in mid-March – communicated through the Embassy of Taiwan in Honiara - where he states, he samples will be repatriated to the Solomon Islands.
The NIPS also hopes all the samples will be repatriated soon, including any immortalized cell lines. Furthermore, given the severity of the ethical breeches and violations of Solomon Islanders’ rights, the NIPS considers it critical that Ko respect a ban on any further publications and patent applications that use data from the indigenous blood samples from Solomon Islanders.

The NIPS states it gave a letter to Taiwanese officials during a March 31 2011 meeting at the Taiwanese Embassy in Honiara. This letter discussed pressing issues related to the patent application, including the abandonment of the application.

NIPS President, Mr Donald Marahare, Coordinator Graham Vahia and officer Meffrey Poenjili look forward to cooperating with the ROC Embassy’s First Secretary Mr Thomas Tsai, who will be mediating between responsible authorities in Taiwan and Honiara on this matter.

NIPS reiterate that the Solomon Islands Government must recognise the significance of this case and come up with legal instruments to safeguard its own indigenous citizens from any future biopiracy of human genetic materials and biological resources.

“The 1995 successful blocking of a patent application using genetic materials from Indigenous Solomon Islanders filed for patent application by the US Government’s National Institute of Health coupled with this episode involving Taiwanese researchers acquiring genetic materials from
Solomon Islanders, are timely wake-up call to take effective measures to protect Indigenous Solomon Islanders from any future repeat of genetic materials biopiracy.”

NIPS also acknowledges the cooperation it received from the Solomon Islands Research and Ethical Committee, the Ministry of Health and Medical Services, Mark Munsterhjelm from the University of Windsor in Canada, Ms Neth Dano of the ETC Group, Mr Fiu Elisara of Samoa and all the other resourceful individuals who have assisted with this matter.

ENDS////

NIPS urges withdrawal of US patent application

President of the Network of the Indigenous Peoples-Solomons (NIPS) Mr Donald Marahare has urged the Solomon Islands Government to demand the withdrawal of a patent application in the US involving genetic samples collected from indigenous Solomon Islanders.

The genetic samples were collected by a Taiwanese researcher, Dr. Ying-chin Ko of Kaohsiung Medical University in September 2006. Dr. Ko and three colleagues filed the patent application in the US on June 10 2010.

Mr. Marahare says he believes the individuals who supplied the samples are not aware of the patent application and would have not consented to taking part had they known the research would be used in this way.

The samples from 192 Solomon Islanders used in Dr. Ko’s US patent application 20100248253 entitled "Method and Kit for Assessing Risk of Gout and Hyperuricemia," were collected at the National Referral Hospital in Honiara and two clinics in rural Guadalcanal province.
Mr Marahare adds that his organization strongly condemns such a deceitful act by Dr. Ko who has utilized the Taiwan-Solomon Islands diplomatic relationship for his personal gain and strongly recommends the Solomon Islands Government commence formalities to demand the immediate return of the samples.

The President of NIPS acknowledges his organization’s link with Mark Munsterhjelm of the University of Windsor in Canada, Neth Dano of the ETC Group in Philipines and Fiu Elisara of Samoa who alerted the NIPS about Dr. Ko’s application.

“Had we not been informed by Mr Munsterhjelm, Solomon Islands would not have the slightest idea of this application” said Mr. Marahare, who also demanded that, “such practice where Indigenous Solomon Islanders are used for commercial interests without obtaining their free, prior and full informed consent must be stopped.”

The Solomon Islands Research and Ethical Committee of the Ministry of Health and Medical Services earlier this week, has also strongly demanded Dr. Ko’s application be refused or quashed.
Meanwhile, a prominent Honiara lawyer requesting anonymity has called on the Solomon Islands Government to be ready to do more than simply requesting the US Patent and Trademark Office “quash or refuse” the patent application filed by Dr. Ko.

He said, “The government must be ready to bring about legal proceedings in the US to restrain relevant authorities from granting the patent. They have to back up requests with legal proceedings as requests is not enough.”

The Network of the Indigenous Peoples-Solomons (NIPS) is currently working to raise awareness and is demanding the immediate return of the samples taken by Dr. Ko back to Solomon Islands and to have the US Patent and Trademark Office disqualify this patent application.

SOLOMONS GOLD MINE LANDOWNERS THREATEN ROAD BLOCK

Frustrated as mine won’t meet their demands

HONIARA, Solomon Islands (Solomon Times, March 27, 2009) -Land owners of the eastern side of Guadalcanal are planning to set up a road block, frustrated with the inaction of Gold Ridge Management to look at their grievances, one of which is the removal of the current General Manager.

A land owner and former employee of Gold Ridge Mining, Mr. Robert Pepeu told Solomon Times that they are having a meeting soon to plan a date for the road block.

Mr. Pepeu stated that they are frustrated "because the management of the company is still denying the cyanide issue."

He said that the planned road block will "put some sense in these peoples mind." "We really want the management of the company to change, especially their attitude towards us."

He said that villagers will not be affected by the road blocks "the road block will only target company vehicles." Pepeu said that the road blocks will be peaceful so long as they are not forcefully removed.

The Guadalcanal Provincial Police Commander, Chief Supt. George Ghuna said that the Tetere Police is already aware of the road block.

"There were several patrol operations at the Gold Ridge area and other near by communities. However, there were no road blocks...but patrolling will continue," said Chief Supt. Ghuna.

"I wish to remind those planning the road block that such actions are illegal, and we will deal with them accordingly," Chief Supt. Ghuna said.

Management of Gold Ridge did not wish to comment on the issue.

Solomon Times

RAMSI immunity challenged after death of Solomon Islander in car accident

By Patrick O’Connor

30 June 2008

The Australian media has maintained a unanimous silence on the recent death of a young Solomon Islands’ woman who was hit by a vehicle driven by a police officer deployed under the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI). The failure to cover the story is all the more striking given the political furore it has caused in the Solomons’ capital, Honiara, with senior parliamentarians demanding that the Australian-dominated RAMSI forces be stripped of their immunity from the country’s laws.

RAMSI’s immunity is emerging as a focal point for escalating opposition to Canberra’s indefinite occupation of the impoverished Pacific state. Under existing legislative arrangements, the officer involved in the fatal crash—who was allegedly drunk at the time—cannot be prosecuted in the Solomons, even if it is established that a crime was committed.

Hilda Ilabae, a 26-year-old trainee nurse, was struck while walking home from a Honiara church with two flatmates and fellow nurses at around 9 p.m. on June 13. According to an eyewitness, a white utility vehicle veered down the road in a zigzag manner before colliding with Ilabae. “Two of them managed to jump off the road in time but Hilda was late and the vehicle hit her and dragged her to the side of the road into the nearby bushes,” the witness told the Solomon Star.

The nurse died at the scene. A passenger in the vehicle—another RAMSI police officer—was seriously injured in the accident and later flown to Australia for emergency treatment. The officers, both Samoan nationals, were off-duty at the time.

Under the Facilitation of International Assistance Act, the RAMSI officer can be prosecuted under Solomons’ law only if the Samoan government waives the immunity provision. The Facilitation Act was drafted by the former Howard government and ratified by the Solomon Islands’ parliament in July 2003, as more than 2,000 Australian soldiers, police, and officials landed in the country as part of efforts by the Australian ruling elite to protect its economic and strategic interests in the region against encroaching rival powers. Publicly defended as a humanitarian intervention into a “failed” or “failing” state, RAMSI also proceeded under the banner of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF)—in order to provide a “multilateral” cover for Canberra’s operation. The Samoan police involved in the June 13 fatality are among a small number of police, soldiers, and legal officials from PIF countries other than Australia and New Zealand.

Five years after the initial RAMSI deployment, Solomon Islands remains among the world’s poorest countries. While hundreds of millions of dollars in so-called Australian aid has been spent on Australian Federal Police salaries, prisons, and the court system, virtually nothing has been committed to health and education services, or to the alleviation of poverty and unemployment. At the same time, the influx of hundreds of highly paid Australian police, bureaucrats, “advisors”, and non-governmental organisation personnel has exacerbated social inequality.

This is especially marked in Honiara, where RAMSI has created a “bubble economy” by pushing up rents and other costs of living. According to a report issued last April by Aid/Watch, a Sydney-based watchdog organisation, a small house in Honiara rented for between SI$600 and $1,000 per month (A$80-$135) before RAMSI arrived, but now goes for between SI$2,000 and $5,000 (A$270-$675). As a result, many public service workers—whose monthly wage often amounts to just SI$1,000 to $2,000 a month—are forced to live in squatter camps on Honiara’s outskirts, without power, running water or basic municipal services. The Aid/Watch report (titled “The Limits of RAMSI”) also noted the situation in Nggosi, an area in west Honiara that is now a RAMSI enclave, with monthly rents averaging between SI$15,000 and $40,000 per month. “You rarely see Solomon Islanders there now, except as a cleaner,” Robert Iroga, a well-known journalist, reported.

For many ordinary people, the manner of Hilda Ilabae’s death symbolised the colonial character of RAMSI’s relations with the population. While the trainee nurse and her friends were walking home, the allegedly drunk RAMSI officer was driving a utility vehicle provided by the authorities. Getting around by car remains a “luxury” for most people, particularly with petrol prices rising. Inflation in fuel and food has hit the Pacific country hard in recent months. Many people are now unable to catch a bus, let alone drive a car, with the standard bus fare in Honiara rising by more than 100 percent in the last month (from SI$2 to $5).

A report in the Solomon Star pointed to the tensions revealed by the fatal vehicle accident: “Later Friday night some of Ms Ilabae’s relatives and RAMSI people were involved in a confrontation at the hospital. RAMSI soldiers, along with Participating Police Force [i.e., RAMSI police] officers, were called to provide security as the stand-off was sorted out.”

No doubt concerned to prevent the emergence of any public protests, senior RAMSI officials responded quickly. Special Coordinator Tim George issued a formal apology in letters to both Prime Minister Derek Sikua and the Ilabae family. RAMSI paid for the travel expenses of a reported 200 family members who went to the funeral in the family village of Talakali in Malaita Province. Participating Police Force Commander Denis McDermott, along with other RAMSI and police officials, also attended. Later however, McDermott suggested that the family’s demand for a compensation payment was a matter to be discussed between the Solomon Islands’ and Samoan governments, not RAMSI.

Legal immunity and the Commission of Inquiry’s final report

According to a report published on the People First web site, Manasseh Sogavare, former prime minister and current leader of the parliamentary opposition, said that the death of the young nurse was the eleventh fatality involving RAMSI officers.

“We cannot allow officers of the visiting contingent to continue to be careless about the way they conduct themselves in this country,” he declared. “If they are here to require Solomon Islanders to behave lawfully, then they have a duty to lead by example. The records of some officers so far are appalling... As it stands now, the visiting contingent is a privileged group of people in Solomon Islands who are enjoying immunities that are totally unnecessary and given the change in circumstances it became a license to carelessness. The responsibility now lies squarely on the shoulders of the Solomon Islands government to immediately review the legal framework for deliberation by parliament. Failing this, the government will be seen as condoning these irresponsible behaviours and a party to them.”

Canberra regards legal immunity as an essential component of the intervention, ensuring that Australian personnel retain a free hand to directly interfere in Solomons’ affairs whenever necessary. In Papua New Guinea, the Australian policing component of the so-called Enhanced Cooperation Program (an intervention force modelled on RAMSI) had to be withdrawn in 2005 after the country’s Supreme Court ruled that immunity was unconstitutional. Any forced withdrawal of Australian Federal Police from the Solomons would represent a major setback in Canberra’s efforts to assert its domination of a region that is marked by intensifying great power rivalries, characterised above all by Beijing’s growing economic and diplomatic influence.

The Solomon Islands’ parliament is due to complete the required annual review of the Facilitation Act next month. It remains to be seen whether Prime Minister Sikua will simply ram through a formal approval of the RAMSI legislation without debate (perhaps under the cover of the country’s 30th anniversary celebrations of formal independence from Britain), or whether there will instead be a serious assessment of the legal basis for RAMSI’s ongoing presence.

There is no question that the Rudd government wishes to avoid the latter possibility. Indeed, there is every reason to believe that Canberra’s determination to secure the Solomon Islands’ parliamentary rubber stamp for another 12 months of RAMSI legal immunity lies behind the ongoing suppression of a final report issued by the Commission of Inquiry on the April 2006 riots.

This official investigation was initiated by the former Sogavare government, which was in power from May 2006 to December 2007, when it finally succumbed to a sustained regime change campaign orchestrated in Canberra. The Howard government had targeted then Prime Minister Sogavare, who initiated the inquiry, as well as launching a filthy and slanderous attack on Julian Moti, an international constitutional lawyer and academic who was the central legal figure involved in establishing the investigation. Canberra was at pains to prevent any scrutiny of RAMSI’s role in the 2006 unrest, or any examination of evidence that Australian forces were stood down to allow the violence to proceed.

Moreover, an examination of the Commission of Inquiry’s hearings, interim findings, and final submissions indicates that one of the likely findings of the final report is that RAMSI’s legal immunity be revoked. (See: “Why have the findings of the Solomon Islands Commission of Inquiry into the 2006 riots not been released?”)

The question must be posed: Is this why the final report—which was handed to the Sikua government more than two months ago—has not been publicly released? There has been no explanation for the inordinate delay in its publication. There is no doubt that officials in Canberra have received a copy and have carefully perused its contents. Does the Australian government hope to first secure next month’s parliamentary renewal of the Facilitation Act before permitting the report’s release? And is it aiming to engineer a sanitised version of the final report for public consumption, censoring potentially damaging references to RAMSI’s legal immunity as well as to the intervention’s wider status under international law?

The current Australian Labor prime minister has already made clear his contempt for the Commission of Inquiry. When he visited the Solomon Islands in March, Rudd was asked about the submissions that suggested Canberra bore responsibility for providing compensation for damages caused in the April riots. “Our view as Australia, is that RAMSI has acted entirely professionally and properly in discharging its responsibilities,” Rudd replied. “For RAMSI there is absolutely no case to answer... These matters will now be deliberated on by the appropriate inquiry into what happened in those riots. But from the perspective of the Australian government, there is no case to answer.”

The parliamentary opposition has meanwhile stepped up its demands for the release of the final report. “The government’s suppression of the report is very suspicious,” East Honiara MP Charles Dausabea told the Solomon Star last Thursday. “It makes me very suspicious of what it might contain.”

Dausabea, together with fellow parliamentarian Nelson Ne’e, were arrested by RAMSI police within days of the April 2006 riots and were accused of orchestrating the violence. The two men were imprisoned without trial and denied bail by Australian judges for eight months, only to have the charges thrown out of court once a magistrate had a chance to review the evidence. It turned out that RAMSI’s entire case rested on the bogus testimony of a multiple felon. “I spent some eight months in prison on the matter only to be found innocent by the court,” Dausabea said. “Therefore I demand that the government release the report within seven days [and] if not I will seek my legal counsel for the release of the document.”

Perhaps the sensitivity of the question of legal immunity—along with the related issue of the suppression of the Commission of Inquiry’s final findings—may explain why the Australian media has ignored the killing of Hilda Ilabae.

See Also:
New Solomon Islands prime minister kowtows to Canberra
[2 February 2008]
Australian Labor government steps up vendetta against former Solomon Islands attorney-general
[31 December 2007]
Solomon Islands government rebuts Canberra’s child sex allegations against attorney-general
[14 August 2007]
The Howard government, RAMSI, and the April 2006 Solomon Islands’ riots”
[21 February 2007]

Solomon Islands government ousted through parliamentary vote

By Patrick O’Connor

14 December 2007

Email the author

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2007/dec2007/soga-d14.shtml

The Solomon Islands government of Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare was ousted yesterday after a no-confidence motion won the backing of 25 parliamentarians, against 22 on the government side. Sogavare remains caretaker prime minister pending a parliamentary vote, which is expected next week, to elect his successor. Opposition leader Fred Fono is one of several candidates vying for the job. Two former government ministers who were among those who defected to the opposition last month, Derek Sikua and Gordon Darcy Lilo, are also expected to nominate.

Sogavare’s removal from power marks the culmination of a protracted destabilisation campaign, orchestrated in Canberra, aimed at installing a more pliant administration. Soon after he came to power in May last year, Sogavare was identified by the previous Australian government of Prime Minister John Howard as a threat to the ongoing occupation by the Australian-dominated Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI). Sogavare’s 20-month term in office was dominated by a succession of provocations mounted by RAMSI and the Australian government.

The RAMSI operation in July 2003 involved the dispatch of more than 2,000 soldiers, police and officials to take control over the Solomons’ state apparatus, including police, prisons, judiciary, public service, treasury and central bank. While launched under the pretext of a humanitarian intervention, the neo-colonial operation was driven by a concern to protect Australian corporate and strategic interests. Developments in the South Pacific, which Howard characterised as Australia’s “special patch”, have become increasingly bound up with escalating great power rivalries. RAMSI marked a shift within the Canberra foreign policy establishment toward the more open use of military force to maintain Australian regional hegemony. The operation was hailed as a forerunner for potential interventions in other Pacific states, most notably the resource-rich former Australian colony, Papua New Guinea.

The ferocity with which Canberra responded to Sogavare’s limited moves to reduce RAMSI’s control over public finance and economic policy can only be understood within this context. The Howard government’s campaign was one of two regional “regime change” operations initiated in 2006. More than a thousand Australian troops were deployed to East Timor in May last year as part of a concerted campaign to oust the elected Fretilin administration of Mari Alkatiri. Fretilin fell foul of the Howard government after resisting its demands for most of the multi-billion oil and gas reserves in the Timor Sea, as well as for cultivating relations with Australia’s rivals, particularly Portugal and China.

There a number of significant differences between East Timor and Solomon Islands; the Solomons, for example, formally recognises Taiwan and has no diplomatic ties with Beijing. Canberra’s drive against both the Sogavare government and the Fretilin administration, however, were driven by the same imperative—namely the exclusion of rival powers from its declared sphere of influence.

Sogavare’s ousting demonstrates that this central strategy remains unchanged under the new Labor government of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. The Labor Party fully endorsed the RAMSI intervention when it was first announced in 2003. Rudd and his colleagues similarly backed the Howard government throughout its campaign against Sogavare. Following Labor’s election win, however, Rudd and his parliamentary secretary for the Pacific, Duncan Kerr, made noises about establishing better relations with Pacific governments by dealing with them in a less abrasive fashion.

The Labor government nevertheless gave the green light for the Solomons’ opposition and RAMSI authorities to continue their campaign against Sogavare. A clear signal was its refusal to respond to the Solomons’ prime minister’s public invitation for Rudd and Kerr to visit Honiara. It was not an accidental omission. Earlier this week, Rudd’s office refused to return calls from the World Socialist Web Site enquiring about his attitude, while a spokesman for Kerr said he had not received a formal notification from the Solomons’ government and insisted that it would be “inappropriate” to respond to Sogavare’s public invitation.

RAMSI intervenes against Sogavare government

While the full extent of the Australian authorities’ behind-the-scenes involvement in the manoeuvres against Sogavare in the lead-up to the no-confidence motion is not known, there is no doubt that RAMSI played a central role.

Three former RAMSI leaders—Ben McDevitt, Nick Warner, and James Batley—were instrumental in ensuring that former prime minister Allen Kemakeza avoided being stripped of his parliamentary seat and sent to jail, despite being convicted on December 6 of serious charges, including intimidation and larceny. After receiving character statements from the three, the Australian magistrate adjudicating the case sentenced Kemakeza to just two months jail and granted bail pending an appeal. Kemakeza had refused to commit to either the government or opposition side. After declaring himself to be happy with the court’s “fair judgment”, the former prime minister cast his vote against Sogavare in yesterday’s no-confidence vote.

The court’s decision proved crucial, as Kemakeza ended up holding the balance of power. Had he supported the government, Sogavare may have been able to claim 24 parliamentary votes against 24 for the opposition, thereby blocking the no-confidence motion. (The final vote of 25 to 22 reflected the absence of one government member who failed to attend parliament due to health reasons and has since died.)

After securing Kemakeza’s support, RAMSI officials launched an extraordinary police and military operation in Honiara. Scores of heavily-armed Australian and New Zealand soldiers, along with Australian Federal Police officers, were deployed around Honiara on Tuesday. Australian troops in full camouflage gear remained on guard outside the Honiara Hotel, where opposition parliamentarians had gathered. While supposedly a security operation aimed at preventing violence, the show of force was clearly aimed at bolstering the opposition and stifling any protest. Government MPs, who received no similar protection, accused Australian forces of helping to isolate opposition parliamentarians so they would not have a chance to cross over to the government’s side.

“Such a display of arms rather openly to members of the public is uncalled for and questions the very issue of RAMSI’s independence and impartiality in dealing with law and order in this country,” a government statement issued just before the no-confidence vote declared. “Now it is becoming very clear that RAMSI is working in tandem with Asian loggers who are alleged to have been providing financial support to the opposition in a conspiracy to oust the [Sogavare] government.”

Rudd responded to the no-confidence vote by stressing his determination to see the Solomon Islands’ attorney-general Julian Moti extradited to Australia. “This individual is the subject of criminal charges,” he declared. “We have activated our extradition arrangements with the government of the Solomon Islands. Nothing has changed on that score.”

Moti, a respected legal academic and practitioner specialising in constitutional and international law, became the subject of a vicious witchhunt orchestrated by the former Howard government. Moti was instrumental in establishing the Commission of Inquiry into the April 2006 riots in Honiara, which threatened to expose RAMSI’s complicity in the violence. He further assisted a parliamentary review that threatened to strip RAMSI personnel of their blanket legal immunity from Solomons’ law. Moti also threatened to challenge the legality of the entire RAMSI intervention before the International Court of Justice. In response to this threat, the Howard government mounted a bogus campaign for his extradition, based on trumped-up statutory rape allegations that had been thrown out of a Vanuatu court in 1998. The central aim was to undermine Moti through constant vilification in the Australian and Pacific press as a “child sex” perpetrator.

For Rudd to again solidarise himself with this vile campaign—even after Sogavare has lost power—speaks volumes about Labor’s fundamental agreement with the former Howard government’s agenda in the Solomons. What happens next with Moti remains unclear, although Fred Fono has declared that the “first act” of the next government will be to have him arrested and extradited to Australia.

Corrupt old guard returns

Yesterday’s no-confidence vote effectively subverts the outcome of the April 2006 national elections. The elections were a massive repudiation of the Kemakeza government, which had been in power since 2001 and presided over the entry of RAMSI forces in 2003. Popular hostility toward the entrenched corruption of the prime minister and his colleagues combined with growing dissatisfaction and outright opposition toward RAMSI. Half of all parliamentarians lost their seats, including 9 of Kemakeza’s 20 ministers.

Despite the result, horse-trading between the different factions and politicians saw all 11 surviving government ministers stay in power as part of a coalition government headed by Snyder Rini, Kemakeza’s former deputy. The announcement of Rini’s government sparked widespread outrage, which culminated in a two-day riot that was sparked by a clash outside the parliament between RAMSI police and demonstrators. Sogavare came to power soon after Rini was forced to resign.

The old guard of the former Kemakeza government is now back in the saddle. Kemakeza and Rini are likely to take up prominent positions in the new government, as is Laurie Chan. Chan’s father, Tommy Chan, is a Honiara businessman who was alleged to have been involved in vote-buying deals that are widely believed to have been behind Rini’s installation as prime minister in April 2006.

The defeat of the Sogavare government has not seen any protests or violence, though authorities remain on alert and RAMSI soldiers and police continue to patrol Honiara. Whatever the immediate outcome of the political crisis, the return of the old Kemakeza government forces will exacerbate tensions throughout the Solomon Islands.

The new government inherits a social crisis, marked by escalating poverty and social inequality throughout the country, for which it has no solution. The RAMSI intervention has involved the investment of considerable sums into the Pacific country’s state apparatus, especially the prison system, police and judiciary, while a negligible amount has spent on health, education and other basic social services. The influx of hundreds of highly-paid foreign personnel working with RAMSI has led to a boom in the provision of luxury and high-cost products and services but has delivered nothing for ordinary Honiara residents except sharply rising prices, particularly for food and housing. Thousands of people, particularly frustrated young men, remain without work or decent housing in squalid squatter camps in the capital.

The situation will only worsen if the new government in Honiara delivers on its pledges to advance the “free market” economic reform agenda promoted by Canberra.

See Also:
Solomon Islands government in crisis after parliamentarians join opposition
[12 December 2007]
Labor, Liberal and the revival of colonialism in the South Pacific
[21 November 2007]
Solomon Islands’ foreign minister condemns Australian occupation at UN General Assembly
[11 October 2007]
Solomon Islands government rebuts Canberra’s child sex allegations against attorney-general
[14 August 2007]

Top of page The WSWS invites your comments.

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NZ AND AUST ASKED TO LEAVE MELANESIAN COUNTRIES ALONE

http://www.niufm.com/?t=3&View=FullStory&newsID=2645

Date: 30 November 2007

Auckland 6am: A call's been made for New Zealand and Australia to step back from interfering in Melanesian countries, such as the Solomon Islands.

The spokesperson for Global Peace and Justice in Auckland says both of the Regional Superpowers want a finger in the pie.

John Minto says both try to dominate the regional security group, RAMSI, under the guise of terrorism.

Minto says locals would rather see resourcing that'll lead to their daily life being less of a struggle and the nation more stable economically and democratically. (listen)

Solomon Islands FM blasts Australia for continued occupation

UNITED NATIONS: The government of the Solomon Islands will seek to change the rules under which the Australian-led peacekeepers are operating in the country, describing it as a "continued occupation," Foreign Minister Patteson Otti said Monday.

Otti also called on the United Nations to assume a greater role in the mission, saying the Solomon Islands' experience with Australian-designed "cooperative intervention" proved that the world body must retain a leading role in international peacekeeping.

The 2,200-strong Australian-led international security contingent known as the Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI) has been in the country in 2003, when it arrived to help quell communal strife in which hundreds died.

But relations between Australia and the Solomons plunged since Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare took office in May 2006 following parliamentary elections.

Sogavare has criticized the mission over the past year, threatening to expel Australian personnel from the mission and to strip the troops of their immunity from prosecution. He accused the mission of representing too much of Canberra's interests and of failing to focus on its mandate to restore law and order in the South Pacific nation.

Sogavare has called for a RAMSI "exit strategy."

Canberra responded by accusing the Solomons' leader of poor governance. Australian peacekeepers also raided Sogvare's office, saying they were searching for evidence in a child sex criminal case.

Otti said it was the Solomons' "sovereign right to determine the terms on which the government of the Solomon Islands will permit our continued occupation by the visiting contingent."

"My (government) remains unmoved by Australian resistance to our attempts to reclaim our sovereignty and independence," he said.

Otti noted that after the government had criticized Australia's military role in the Solomons, he too had been denied a visa to visit Canberra.

"One would have to admit that this is an incredible justification for excluding democratically elected leaders of neighboring countries unknown for breeding terrorists," he said.

SOGAVARE WANTS SENSITIVITY FROM HIS SAMOAN COUNTERPART

Samoa abstained from the recent vote of DRIP through the UN, ausaid couldn't have brought Samoa off so easily? RAMSI are an occupying force to ensure that extortion rackets like the IMF & transnationals have their way with lands and resources.Makes Misa Foni Retzlaff's recent comment that "Samoa will not sacrifice its culture to globalisation", pure rhetoric and nothing else. Piss off RAMSI-Haere ATU Out of the Pacific.

By Deli Oso
Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare has called for sensitivity from his Samoan counterpart on the issues of Australian re-colonisation agenda and the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands.

Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi was quoted by Radio Australia saying that the current tensions between Honiara and Canberra had nothing to do with RAMSI and that without RAMSI Solomon Islands would still be in chaos.

But responding to the statements, Prime Minister Sogavare said tensions between Solomon Islands and Australia were fueled by the fact that RAMSI was controlled and dominated by Australia.

“The sad fact about RAMSI is that it is being controlled and dominated by Australia. They act on the instructions of Canberra and the sad fact is that when Honiara and Canberra don’t see eye-to-eye on an issue, you will see RAMSI actively engaged in rallying public support against the Solomon Islands government.

“How dare anyone would expect the elected government of Solomon Islands to tolerate such actions? The actions of RAMSI clearly reveal that it is here in the strategic interest of Australia. This is a fact and I will never be convinced by any other reason that suggests otherwise,” he said.

Mr Sogavare said Solomon Islands government appreciated the leading role that RAMSI played in the restoration of law and order however Australia should not use RAMSI as leverage to exert its control over Solomon Islands.

POLICE ROPE IN RAMSI OFFICERS TO OPPRESS SOGAVARE

Date: 10 August 2007

Auckland 6am; Police in the Solomon Islands are warning locals in Honiara they'll face the full brunt of the law if they cause trouble today.

It's D-Day for prime minister Manasseh Sogavare as a vote of no confidence is tabled against him in Parliament.

Police Commissioner Jahir Khan says he has 400 men on duty ready to quell any uprising. (listen)

http://www.niufm.com/site_resources/library/News/Lito/A0000010_aug1007/jahir..................12pm..................1087.mp3

RAMSI Review Delayed

Prime Minister Sogavare accuses Australia of meddling in local politics. [AFP file photo]

Last Updated 24/04/2007, 17:05:11

The first of two scheduled reviews of the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) has been delayed after the review team became stranded in Fiji.

Pacific correspondent Campbell Cooney reports that the Solomons government hopes the review will ultimately set a timetable for the removal of RAMSI.

The preliminary review was to have begun today, but the two-member team, which includes former Fijian Foreign Affairs minister Kaliopate Tavola and former New Zealand diplomat Neil Walters, has been delayed in Fiji after their flight was cancelled due to fog.

They are now scheduled to arrive in Solomons on Thursday.

Their six-day visit will investigate the reasons for RAMSI's intervention in 2003, as well as its mandate and progress made so far.

The review will also consider the impact of RAMSI's continued presence on Solomon Islands sovereignty.

The government of Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare has been sharply critical of RAMSI and has accused it of meddling in domestic politics.

The government first called for the review at last year's Pacific Island Forum leaders meeting in Fiji.

The preliminary review's report will be presented to Forum Foreign Affairs Ministers before a more detailed review is carried out later this year

Sogavare unforgiving despite aid

AUSTRALIA'S assistance to the Solomon Islands after the April 2 tsunami appears to have done little to mend relations between the two countries, with Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare yesterday returning fire on allegations of corruption and vowing never to extradite fugitive lawyer Julian Moti.

In an exclusive interview, Mr Sogavare said Australia's vital help in coping with the disaster had saved lives and even opened up the possibility of dialogue between himself and John Howard, after months of standoff amid bitter diplomatic brawling.

Although Mr Sogavare hopes to have talks soon with his Australian counterpart, he warned he would not back down on contentious issues between the countries, and accused the Howard Government of hypocrisy in its allegations that some parts of the Solomon Islands Government were corrupt.

The two leaders spoke by telephone soon after the tsunami struck. Mr Howard followed up his offer of emergency aid to call on Mr Sogavare to join him in working towards better relations.

Mr Sogavare said he wanted to build on the emerging goodwill, but not at the expense of giving in to the Howard Government's demands on such issues as Mr Moti's extradition or maintaining the focus of the the Australian-led Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands.

"It is very harmful to swallow things that you are not happy about, but yes, we are working toward normalising our relationship," Mr Sogavare said from his office in Honiara.

"It is amazing what disaster can do to move people who are not on talking terms to talk with each other.

"I think there has been misunderstanding on our positions, and if we get talking and agree on how it should happen, I think we can move on."

The disaster has taken the lives of more than 40 people. An estimated 60 are still missing and more than 7000 people have been left homeless.

Mr Sogavare said an estimated 50,000 people might have to be relocated from the worst-hit western parts of the Solomons because of irreparable damage to their villages and widespread fear of another tsunami.

Despite Australia's assistance and hopes of a warming in the bilateral relationship, Mr Sogavare launched a stinging salvo yesterday when asked about Canberra's allegations of corruption in his Government, and an open letter written by Minister for Foreign Affairs Alexander Downer to a Solomons newspaper earlier this year.

In the letter, Mr Downer accused the Sogavare Government of having too close a relationship with elements of the former Malaitan Eagle Force, which was involved in the bloody ethnic tensions that crippled the Pacific nation and led to the RAMSI intervention in 2003.

The letter followed last year's expulsion of Australia's High Commissioner to Honiara, Patrick Cole, for alleged meddling in local politics; the refusal to extradite Mr Moti, the suspended Attorney-General; and the effective sacking of Australian Shane Castles as Solomons police commissioner after he was deemed an "undesirable immigrant".

Mr Sogavare said the Downer letter was a breach of sovereignty, because it constituted a foreign government speaking directly to the Solomons' population.

It also revealed Mr Downer's poor understanding of discrimination against the large Malaitan ethnic group, the PM said.

"What was outlined was divisive," he said. "It basically accused the Government, falsely, of siding with a militant group."

Mr Sogavare said his Government would never agree to extradite Mr Moti, an Australian lawyer who is wanted by Australian police on child sex charges in Vanuatu that date back to 1997, and of which Mr Moti was cleared after allegedly bribing a magistrate in Port Vila.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21542719-2702,00.html

Earthquake Near Solomon Islands Sparks Pacific Tsunami Alert

April 2 (Bloomberg) -- An earthquake of magnitude 7.6 hit 45 kilometers (25 miles) off the coast of the Solomon Islands, spurring a tsunami warning for Australia, Indonesia and South Pacific island nations.

The quake occurred at 7:39 a.m. Solomon Islands time, close to the coastal settlement of Gizo, in the New Georgia archipelago. Its epicenter was 345 kilometers from the capital, Honiara, the U.S. Geological Survey said in an e-mailed alert.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami alert for the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Nauru, Chuuk, New Caledonia, Tuvalu, Kiribati and the Marshall Islands. There were no immediate reporters of damage or casualties.

A tsunami watch extends to Fiji, Guam, New Zealand, the Philippines, Japan and Samoa, the center said in an e-mailed statement.

``An earthquake of this size has the potential to generate a destructive tsunami that can strike coastlines near the epicenter within minutes and more distant coastlines within hours,'' the center said in an e-mailed statement. ``Authorities should take appropriate action in response to this possibility

RAMSI coordinator says charges laid against number of officials

The Special Coordinator of the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands, RAMSI, says charges are being laid against some senior government officials and both provincial and national leaders.

The Solomon Islands Broadcasting corporation reports Timothy George told participants who attended a workshop organised by Transparency Solomon Islands in Honiara this week, that Solomon Islanders are always asking RAMSI to catch the big fish.

He said without a well-governed professional police force, much of the efforts in nation-making, including combating corruption, are likely to be doomed.

Mr George said one of the key bodies now dealing with corruption in the wider community is the Joint Corruption Targeting Taskforce of 14 police investigators drawn from both the Solomon Islands Police Force and RAMSI’s regional Participating Police Force.

He said the Joint Corruption Targeting force, has a very heavy case load, that has already led to charges being laid against two senior government officials, two senior statutory office-holders, three former provincial premiers, five former national ministers and two former prime ministers.

RNZ