DATE=6/11/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=SOLOMON ISLANDS ATTACK (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-263364
BYLINE=JANICE APLIN
DATELINE=WELLINGTON
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: There's been a new outbreak of violence in the
Solomon Islands. As Janice Aplin reports from
Wellington, New Zealand, one man
was killed when a heavily armed group attacked and
took over Gizo, a provincial capital in the western
Solomon Islands.
TEXT: Gizo is located in the outer islands of the
Solomon's Group, and there are fears that the outbreak
of fighting there could mean the crisis will escalate
beyond the main island of Guadalcanal.
In this latest incident, a new ethnic militia raided
the police station in Gizo and seized
telecommunications facilities there. Phone lines in
other parts of the province were cut. One militia
member was reported killed in the attacks.
Diplomats say some of the militants involved in this
violence may be from Bougainville, an island in
eastern Papua New Giunea.
This newest crisis occurs as a delegation of
Commonwealth foreign ministers left the Solomon
Islands. They had been talking to Prime Minister
Bartholomew Ulufa'alu and rival Isatabu and Malaita
rebels.
Tension had originally escalated in the Solomons when
members of Malaita Eagle Force, angry at the forcing
out of Malaitan settlers from Guadalcanal, last week
placed the Prime Minister under house arrest and took
over the capital Honiara. Since then they have been
fighting a rival militia, the Isatabu Freedom
movement, which represents the indigenous landholders
on Guadalcanal.
There has been a truce in Honiara for the past two
days as a result of the visiting Commonwealth
delegation. New Zealand Foreign Minister Phil Goff
said he believed there was a fifty-fifty chance of
getting an agreement to extend the ceasefire further.
Many foreign nationals, including 60 New Zealanders,
have taken advantage of the ceasefire to leave the
islands.
The violence in Guadalcanal is the result of
resentment of the migrant Malaitans by the indigenous
inhabitants. The Malaitans are accused of taking key
jobs in Honiara.
The unrest has resulted in about 20-thousand Malaitans
being forced from their homes and at least 60 people
have died in the fighting on Guadalcanal over the past
18 months. (Signed)
NEB/JA/PLM
11-Jun-2000 04:58 AM EDT (11-Jun-2000 0858 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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