SOLOMON ISLANDS: EXPRESSING USG CONCERNS

C O N F I D E N T I A L PORT MORESBY 000385 SIPDIS SIPDIS FOR EAP/ANP E.O. 12958: DECL: 9/14/2016 TAGS: PREL PINR BP SUBJECT: SOLOMON ISLANDS: EXPRESSING USG CONCERNS REF: STATE 151965 CLASSIFIED BY: Robert Fitts, Ambassador, U.S. Embassy Port Moresby, Department of State. REASON: 1.4 (b),(d) 1.(C) SUMMARY: Though the Foreign Minister avoided direct contact, Ambassador made sure that he received the points reftel along with a personal letter following up on a recent related conversation. Oti is headed to New York for UNGA and we recommend that these concerns feature in any contact with him there. The Solomon Island would-be political elite is very frustrated by the responsible constraints imposed on them by RAMSI and we should anticipate additional recalcitrant tantrums in the future. END SUMMARY 2.(SBU) Foreign Minster Patteson Oti artfully ducked our attempts to reach him September 13 and 14. (He stayed home allegedly without a landline and in an area where cell phone service could not reach.) However, we made sure he got the referenced documents through his office. Ambassador also detailed USG concerns in a conversation with his Permanent Secretary. SIPDIS 3.(SBU) Oti departed for UNGA on an awkward flight via Vanuatu. This was made necessary as his visa had been canceled (along with those of all Solomon Island MPs) by Australia, which is the usual route to the outside world. One of our business contacts noted this will be very good for the airlines as MPs have been traveling frequently and don't feel obliged to pay for their tickets. 4.(C) COMMENT: Oti was in the thick of the seemingly irrational SIG decision to expel the Aussie High Commissioner. The plan was endorsed at a cabinet meeting, with only one dissent. Resentment over RAMSI constraints on their natural proclivities was a common thread in all our recent conversations with government figures, though most were able to dress it up in nationalist rhetoric. Widespread, though thinning, public support for RAMSI's policing success should continue to curb this government's actions, but there will be many bumps in the road ahead for RAMSI and for good governance. 5.(SBU) The no-confidence vote now scheduled for October 2 could provide a turning point. But the new Parliament is composed of 50 individuals with tangled objectives and the outcome is impossible to predict. FITTS