AUSTRALIA DEPLOYS TROOPS, POLICE TO SOLOMON ISLANDS

C O N F I D E N T I A L CANBERRA 000577

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EAP/ANP
PACOM ALSO FOR FPA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/19/2016
TAGS: MOPS PGOV PINR PREL AS BP
SUBJECT: AUSTRALIA DEPLOYS TROOPS, POLICE TO SOLOMON ISLANDS

REF: A. PORT MORESBY 169


B. PORT MORESBY 170

Classified By: Deputy PolCouns John W. Crowley
Reasons: 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (U) Prime Minister Howard announced on April 19 that
Australia would deploy 110 Australian Defence Force (ADF)
personnel and about 70 police to Honiara to help maintain law
and order in response to post-election rioting in the Solomon
Islands capital (reftels). Four C-130 aircraft are preparing
to transport the ADF forces from Townsville, Queensland, on
the afternoon of April 19 with arrival in Honiara scheduled
that night. A six-man team from the AFP Special Response
Force departed on the morning of April 19, with another 60
AFP personnel scheduled to depart later in the day.


2. (C) The GOA decision was taken in response to a request
for assistance co-signed by the Solomon Islands caretaker
prime minister and Prime Minister-elect Snyder Rini to the
Australian Prime Minister on April 19, according to
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) Solomon
Islands Desk Officer Will Nankervis. So far, there have been
no reported deaths among the approximately 300 police and 60
military personnel currently comprising the Australian-led
Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI),
but 19 Australian police and two New Zealand police received
non-life threatening fractures and lacerations during the
unrest, according to Nankervis. He said there have been no
reports to date of deaths or serious injuries of Australians
resident in the capital.


3. (C) Nankervis said the GOA "deplores" the attacks on the
RAMSI police officers and considers the situation in Honiara
"serious." The GOA has been providing updates to other RAMSI
countries (New Zealand, Tonga and Papua New Guinea) and
Pacific Island Forum members on developments in the Solomon
Islands. DFAT has posted a revised travel advisory for the
Solomon Islands on its website (www.smartraveller.gov.au),
advising Australian citizens to reconsider any planned travel
there, due to "continuing significant civil unrest" and to
avoid the capital center, especially eastern Honiara and the
Chinese district.


4. (C) Comment: The GOA assesses that attacks on RAMSI
police, including the torching of nine police vehicles, were
opportunistic and not reflective of hostility specifically
directed against RAMSI. There is less clarity here about the
ethnic violence, but DFAT believes attacks on Chinese
businesses seemed to have been motivated partly by
perceptions that some Chinese business owners were allied
with factions supporting PM-elect Rini. End comment.