Australia sends peace keeping troops to Solomon Islands

C: https://www.scmp.com/

Honiara, the capital city of Solomon Islands in Oceania, is struck worse with riots. Australia has extended hands of help by sending peace keeping troops for the second day.

The Prime Minister of Australia Scott Morrison has reassured that both the police and the army personnel would be on duty. They will provide as much help as possible with resources or by other means. In a bid to topple the PM, a huge group of protestors barged into the parliament on Wednesday. This took no time to show colors in spreading riots in the heart of the Solomon Islands.

The situation worsened when the mob divided into groups and set government buildings on fire. The crowd also announced lockdown as a face to their process in addition to violence and damage to state and central properties.

As per the security treaty signed by the nation with Australia in 2017, Morrison received a request for extending aid from Manasseh Sogavare, the Prime Minister of Solomon Islands. The bilateral security treaty enables easy deployment of the Australian police, defense, and civil officials in case of any emergency in the Solomon Islands.

There is a chain of complaints against the central government for continuous negligence. However, most of the protestors hail from the island of Malaita, a neighbor of Honiara. In order to take control over the violent anarchy, the government imposed a 36-hour long curfew. But these efforts went in vain as the protestors took over the streets in the Chinatown district of Honiara.

During the hours of unrest, the business owned by the Chinese in Honiara suffered the worst. The reason is Sogavare’s diplomatic move from connections at Taiwan to China. Malaita did not make this switch as a very healthy option and hence the aggression on Chinese business.

“Today, I stand before you to inform you all that our country is safe — your government is in place and continues to lead our nation,” Mr. Sogavare said. He also added that those responsible “will face the full brunt of the law”.

Credits: BBC

David Meyers