PNG troops in cross-border[?]raid

COVER STORIES PNG in cress-border[?]raid

By Johnson Honimae

On September 12, PNG Defence Force troops crossed the Solomon Islands border, killed two unarmed civilians, abducted another and injured a three-year-old. The incident has further strained the detriorating relations between the two countries.

SOLOMON ISLANDS government has issued its strongest statement to date in the two-year Bougainville civil strife but was waiting the return from the Shortland Islands of a high level delegation before making any further moves in the border crisis.

The prime minister wanted first-hand information on the cross-border raid which resulted in the killing of two Solomon Islanders, the wounding of a young child and the abduction of another Solomon Islands citizen.

The delegation comprising the Governor-General, Sir George Lepping, Minister of Police and Justice, Albert Laore, Commissioner of Police, Fred Soaki, and other senior government officials is to present a report on its findings to Cabinet.

The government is then expected to decide whether to expel, the Papua New Guinea High Commissioner, Frank Miro, and the hard-core BRA (Bougain ville Revolutionary Army) elements liv ing in Honiara, including Martin Miriori and John Zale.

But documents seen by Solomons Voice have revealed the Minister of Foreign Affai rs and Trade Relations, Job Duddley Tausinga, is against expelling Miro.

The minister has, instead, recom mended the government expel the Bou gainville interim government spokes man, Miriori, and Zale. The report will also decide whether a state of emergency be declared at the border area and an emergency meeting of the national par liament held.

The early morning raid, w hich saw the

killing of a ni-Kiribati-Solomon Islander, Peter Kamaraia, and his sister, the wounding of the sister’s three-year-old daughter, Jacinta, and the abduction of her husband, have resulted in some of the strongest statements ever issued by a Solomon Islands government.

In its formal protest note, sent through the PNG High Commissioner, late Tues day, Solomon Islands said the acts of the members of the PNG Defence Force were totally unprovoked and uncalled for.

“The people and government of Sol omon Islands express with deep shock and displeasure the atrocious and sadistic acts of members of the PNG Defence Force on innocent and unarmed civ ilians.”

“The people and government of Sol omon Islands protest in the strongest possible terms the brutal killing of its citizens over an internal dispute in which they have little part to play.”

The government said it did not want to pay in blood and life over a dispute that ought to be fought on PNG soil.

In the protest letter, the Solomon Islands government called on the PNG government to: * immediately give assurance of the

safety and return of Beiaruru, who was abducted, to Komaliae Village; * give an expression of regret and excuses to the people and government of Sol omon Islands; * make payment of an indemnity in favour of the families of the deceased; * and bring those involved in this criminal act to justice.

In a statement issued on September 14, Prime Minister Solomon Mamaloni described the incident as barbaric. He said his government viewed the action of the PNG Defence Forces with seriousness and sadness.

“It is a very difficult time for all of us and Solomon Islands must now question the genuineness of some of its traditional friends.”

A meeting on Sunday (September 13) of representatives of the government, opposition and the chairman of the Parliamentary Foreign Relations Com mittee, questioned the sincerity of the Australian High Commission in Honiara and the Australian defence advisors attached to the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force.

The meeting also agreed to appoint a neutral special emissary to mediate