CHINA / National
Chinese nationals flee Solomons
(AP/chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2006-04-23 14:14
Australia is sending additional troops to the Solomon Islands, as more
Chinese nationals fled the country on Sunday amid rising tensions before
parliament opens for the first time since post-election rioting.
Chinese people wait to be escorted to Honiara airport in the wake of
recent violence against the Chinese community April 23, 2006. [Reuters]
The election of new Prime Minister Snyder Rini sparked two days of
rioting last week in the capital Honiara, where a curfew has been
imposed. A peacekeeping force from Australia, New Zealand and Fiji is
patrolling the capital.
About 50 soldiers from New Zealand arrived on Sunday.
Australia's Defence Minister Brendan Nelson said on Sunday another
platoon of 25 soldiers would be sent to the Solomons to guard the
airport, joining 300 military personnel in Honiara. Two patrol boats
would arrive this week, he told ABC television.
About 150��Chinese people were airlifted out of Honiara on Sunday,
travelling to the airport under heavy security in the back of three small
trucks. They will join 90 Chinese who were flown to Papua New Guinea on
Saturday on a Beijing chartered aircraft and will eventually be
repatriated to China.
PARLIAMENT LOCKED DOWN
The military will lock down the Solomons parliament on Monday when MPs
meet for the first time since an election earlier this month. That poll
was the first since Australian-led peacekeepers restored law and order in
2003 after violent ethnic unrest.
Opposition parties have already moved a no-confidence motion against
Rini, which is due to go to a vote on Wednesday. Both sides claim they
have the numbers to be successful.
Church leaders appealed to congregations on Sunday for calm and asked
looters to return what they had stolen.
"As soon as the Chinese have the courage to open their doors again, they
should go in and shake their hands and say sorry," Catholic Archbishop
Adrian Smith told Honiara's packed Holy Cross church.
Honiara's Chinatown was destroyed in the rioting and looting, with
buildings burnt to the ground, forcing some Chinese to jump from windows
and flee across a nearby river. The Chinese number just a few thousand in
the Solomons' 550,000-strong population.
"I hope there no more violence this week, because it will make the whole
country's economy a lot worse," said Moon Pinkwan, 55, whose shop was
burnt down.
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