VZCZCXRO1868
OO RUEHPB
DE RUEHPB #0185/01 1140704
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O R 240704Z APR 06
FM AMEMBASSY PORT MORESBY
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4428
INFO RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 0776
RUEHWL/AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON 0175
RUEHSV/AMEMBASSY SUVA 0142
RUEHPB/AMEMBASSY PORT MORESBY 1800
RHMFISS/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PORT MORESBY 000185 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR EAP/ANP 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  4/24/2016 
TAGS: PGOV PINR CASC BP
SUBJECT: SOLOMON ISLANDS REMAINS TENSE 
 
REF: A) STANTON/EAP E-MAIL  B) PORT MORESBY 175 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Robert Fitts, Ambassador, AMB, STATE. 
REASON: 1.4 (b), (d) 
 
 
 
1.(U) SUMMARY: With the arrival of troops from Australia and New 
Zealand, the situation in Honiara is outwardly calm though 
palpable tension remains just beneath the surface. Though this 
week's violence will be a sharp blow to the economy RAMSI 
officials have discounted earlier fears of food shortages. 
Foreigners who wanted to leave, largely the Chinese and 
temporary residents, have been accommodated on military or 
chartered flights. 
 
2.(C) Wednesday's scheduled no-confidence motion vote on the new 
government will provide a possible flashpoint. With two 
opposition leaders under arrest for involvement in the violence, 
the chances of unseating the government appear reduced. Though 
clearly operating to restrain violence and enforce the law, 
RAMSI and Australia will need to work carefully to avoid the 
impression of backing one side against the other. Embassy 
endorses a statement of support for RAMSI actions as recommended 
ref A. END SUMMARY. 
 
CALM BUT TENSE 
3.(C) According to RAMSI officials, new arrivals over the 
weekend have upped their military support to two Australian 
companies and one from New Zealand. The three are formed into a 
self-supporting battalion. That show of force, combined with a 
sense of shame in the general population and of exhaustion 
amongst the demonstrators/looters have returned normalcy to the 
daytime streets of Honiara. A dusk to dawn curfew, strictly 
enforced, covers most of the city. 
 
4.(SBU) Solomon Islands police have already arrested two 
prominent opposition MPs, Nelson Ne'e and Charles Dausabea, for 
inciting the violence. Both represent Honiara and hail from the 
island of Malaita. [NOTE: Malaitans make up the majority of 
Honiara. Activities of a Malaitan militia, with Dausabea in the 
leadership, eight years ago touched off ethnic conflict with the 
Guadalcanal population, which brought government to a standstill 
and only ended with the 2003 RAMSI intervention.] The police 
have arrested another prominent opposition leader and briefly 
detained a third opposition MP. 
 
EXPATRIATE POPULATION LARGELY SECURE 
5.(SBU) A majority of 400 Chinese displaced in the fighting have 
left Solomon Islands. According to reports, some 170 have 
arrived in Papua New Guinea and smaller numbers have left for 
Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand. The Chinese Ambassador in 
Port Moresby traveled to Honiara over the weekend to help 
organize the evacuation and press the government, which 
recognizes Taiwan, to attended to the safety of Chinese 
nationals. Chinese Embassy officials tell us that this was done 
at the explicit direction of Beijing. 
 
6.(SBU) Most of the other expatriate evacuees have been people 
only temporarily in the country.  We are aware of two American 
citizens. One, a contractor with AUSAID, returned to Australia. 
The other flew to the PRC with his Chinese fianci. Australia and 
New Zealand continue to offer seats to interested Americans on 
military flights. While we are aware of no one that now desires 
to leave, our Consular Agent is in constant touch with the 
community and has constructed a phone tree in addition to the 
normal warden system to rapidly get out the word should the 
situation change. 
 
ECONOMY HAS BEEN HIT 
7.(U) Last week's disturbances have destroyed many of the stores 
and much of the small industry in Honiara. Observers commonly 
quote estimates of the destruction at 75 to 80 percent of the 
establishments. The business community has said that 3000 
Solomon Islanders have immediately lost their jobs.  Presumably 
that situation will worsen as the shock spreads through the rest 
of the economy. Though most of the old-line Chinese remain, no 
one can now say how many of the Chinese evacuees (mostly small 
businessmen) will eventually return. 
 
8.(U) RAMSI officials tell us that, despite earlier fears, there 
should be no food shortage. Though much of the retail network in 
Honiara was destroyed, sufficient stocks of staple foods remain 
in warehouses. Local produce markets have reopened and there is 
a flow of fish and farm products into the city. 
 
NEXT FLASH POINT 
9.(C) The filing of a no-confidence motion on 21 April had 
helped to calm the situation and attention was shifted to the 
 
PORT MORES 00000185  002 OF 002 
 
 
first sitting of Parliament on 24 April to elect the Speaker and 
his deputy. The speaker, Former Speaker and Former Prime 
Minister Peter Keniloria was returned unopposed. However, the 
government and the opposition each had a candidate for deputy. 
The opposition succeeded in postponing that election until April 
25 as one of its members was in jail and could not vote. [Since 
that member will remain in jail and another, Dausabea, was 
arrested as the session ended, that objection will no doubt 
continue.] 
 
10.(C) Most attention has now switched to April 26 when the 
no-confidence motion is to be voted.  We understand that current 
plans are that the vote will be by oral roll call broadcast on 
live radio, forcing all members to declare themselves. In the 
initial voting for PM, the first round went to the now 
opposition 22 to 17 with 11 voting for a third candidate who was 
thus eliminated. The next round awarded the PM's chair Snyder 
Rini 27 to 23, leading to charges of bribery and the ensuing 
violence. 
 
11.(C) With two members in jail and reportedly being denied 
bail, the opposition's chances should be poor.  However, the 
situation is volatile. One of the original voters for Rini, who 
was offered a cabinet job, has moved to the opposition camp. 
[Note: though his friends have told our contacts that he did so 
under physical threat, he has publicly denied this.] 
 
DELICATE TASK FOR RAMSI 
12.(C) The two opposition MPs arrested by the police were 
clearly in violation of laws against incitement to violence. 
Nevertheless, the police are seen by the public as under the 
control of RAMSI [NOTE: Roughly a forth of the police are 
members of RAMSI. The commissioner is an Australian police 
officer though not formally part of RAMSI. The Deputy 
Commissioner is with RAMSI.]  RAMSI's actions against riot 
instigators will be welcomed by the business community and 
rightly supported by the Solomon Islands community which is 
alarmed by the resort to violence when all had hoped that was a 
thing of the past. 
 
13.(C) Nevertheless, with two votes sidelined, opposition 
supporters may be sorely tempted to see RAMSI's actions as the 
key that allowed Rini to hold on to an office they charge was 
corruptly won. That perception is already in the Honiara air. 
One foreigner, with no brief for the opposition, contacted us to 
express outrage that, to her observations, RAMSI officers were 
protecting the hotel of Tommy Chan while allowing the rioters 
free hand among the smaller establishments in Chinatown. [NOTE: 
Tommy Chan is a substantial ethnic Chinese businessman who has 
long backed the faction which now represented by Rini.] 
 
STATEMENT OF SUPPORT RECOMMENDED 
14.(C) Post endorses the proposal ref A for a USG statement of 
support for RAMSI and for Solomon Islanders to work together to 
build a sustainable peace and foster economic growth and good 
governance. 
FITTS