DATE=6/7/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=SOLOMON ISLAND POL (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-263243
BYLINE=DANA ROBERTSON
DATELINE=CANBERRA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: As ethnic violence in the Solomon Islands
intensifies, rebels have released Prime Minister
Bartholomew Ulufa'alu taken captive on Monday. As Dana
Robertson reports from Canberra, he was released under
a deal that will see him removed from office by
parliament next week.
TEXT: New Zealand government officials say Mr.
Ulufa'alu's release into police custody comes
under a deal, which will ultimately remove him
from office. The prime minister was taken hostage
Monday by members of the Malaita Eagle Force
militia, who demanded his resignation and who
took over key installations in the capital
Honiara.
Under the deal announced Wednesday, parliament
will be called together next week to decide who
should now lead the country. /// OPT /// Mr.
Ulafa'alu had previously offered to resign for
the sake of peace. /// END OPT ///
Australian Prime Minister John Howard has
welcomed the breakthrough in the hostage crisis
and the expected return of constitutional rule in
the Solomons.
/// HOWARD ACTUALITY ///
We can't in any way remove our condemnation of
the coup that's taken place. But we do welcome
the possibility that the country may be returning
to constitutional government and that's what we
want and what we've been arguing all along is
that the matter should be resolved without
bloodshed, domestically, internally without
foreign intervention.
/// END ACTUALITY ///
Meanwhile, the negotiations have done little to
ease the fighting east of the capital, Honiara. A
joint force of the paramilitary police and the
Malaita Eagle Force are using a gunboat to shell
fighters for the opposing Isatabu Freedom
Movement.
/// OPT /// The Malaita Eagles' leader, Andrew
Nori, says the fighting has been heavy enough to
disrupt air traffic.
/// NORI ACTUALITY - OPT ///
At the eastern front of the national capital,
very close to the Henderson international
airport, heavy fighting is continuing. So that is
the problem that is causing the non-arrival of
international flights.
/// END ACTUALITY - END OPT ///
It had been reported earlier that the fighting
caused as many as one-hundred deaths. But sources
in Honiara say that although villages in the area
were shelled, people had been evacuated and heavy
casualties were unlikely.
Ethnic violence broke out in the Solomons about
18 months ago on the country's main island
Guadalcanal.
A delegation from Commonwealth nations - grouping
Britain and its former colonies - will be
travelling to the Solomons later this week to
assist efforts to resolve the political tension.
The representatives from Australia, Malaysia,
Botswana and possibly New Zealand will arrive in
the Solomons Friday. They then travel to Fiji for
a similar mission - where ethnic tensions have
also resulted in an attempted coup. (signed)
NEB/HK/DR/GC/JO
07-Jun-2000 04:40 AM EDT (07-Jun-2000 0840 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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