------ Rabuka's Solomons wisdom
From AFP http://www.news.com.au/world/
21jun99
HONIARA: Former Fijian prime minister Sitiveni Rabuka arrived in the Solomon Islands yesterday vowing to resolve worsening ethnic tensions.
Mr Rabuka was named a mediator after the Solomons Government asked the Commonwealth Secretariat in London for expert help to resolve the crisis.
Mr Rabuka said he planned to get started as soon as possible. Asked how long he would be in Honiara, he said: "As long as it takes us to finish the job. We're looking at a week . . . get the people talking to see if we can find the basis of an agreement."
He said he planned a series of one-to-one meetings as well as possible round-table ones. The island of Guadalcanal, where the Solomons capital Honiara is situated, has seen growing violence during the past six months as indigenous people agitate against the presence of those from nearby Malaita – the most populated of the islands. An ill-defined group known as the Guadalcanal Liberation Army is blamed for most of the unrest. A state of emergency is in place. About 10,000 refugees have passed through Honiara to other islands, leaving much of the countryside of Guadalcanal deserted. Thousands are leaving Guadalcanal of their own accord and, at Auki in Malaita, people are sleeping on the streets after they arrive from there. Other islanders are also fleeing: 400 left on Saturday for the Shortlands, which two years ago was the front-line in the civil war in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea.
Mr Rabuka was greeted at the airport by Prime Minister Bartholomew Ulufa'alu who is a Malaitan. The key players from the other side include Opposition Leader Solomon Mamaloni and Guadalcanal Provincial Premier Ezekiel Alebua.
Over the weekend, Solomon Islanders were advised of the new powers Mr Ulufa'alu has won under the declaration of a state of emergency imposed last week by Governor-General Moses Pitakaka. They have no time limit and give the police powers without warrant to arrest anybody, enter any premises, stop and search any person, and seize any documents. People can be jailed, if convicted, for six months if they display "any writing or drawing with intent or which is likely to cause fear, annoyance or danger". The Prime Minister has the power to restrict the movements of any individual or order immediate deportation. He has powers to detain any person "in such place and subject to such conditions" as he may determine.
People who use "words either spoken or intended to be read" that might provoke disharmony can be locked up for six months.