Displaced Villagers Happy To Return Home

All Solomon Islands villagers displaced by two years of violent communal strife from 2000 are back happily in their home districts, according to the Australian-led Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI) that arrived in July 2003 to restore failed law and order.

The happy return was completed with the repatriation of hundreds of villagers to the isolated Weathercoast region of Guadalcanal.

The Weathercoast became notorious for terror under the sway of Harold Keke, a gang leader now awaiting trial on several charges, including murder.

However, an alarming social situation is arising in some districts of Malaita to which about 20,000 Malaitans forced from Guadalcanal by local landowners are trying to re-establish themselves on land they left for Guadalcanal because it was too poor to support them, according to concerned churchmen.

RAMSI took Australian forensic investigators, including disaster victim identification specialists, to help exhume the bodies of eight of the 10 Malaita Islanders ambushed and killed after they infiltrated the Weathercoast on a mission to kill Keke. Two other Malaitans and 22 other bodies were awaiting exhumation.

By the end of May, the commander of the opposing Isatabu Freedom Movement and Malaita Eagle Forces with lesser supporters, had joined Keke in having been sent for trial on murder and other charges.

A visiting International Monetary Fund official David Ormond praised what he said was impressive amount achieved in restoring stability to the Solomon Islands in a short time.

Ormond said the national budget, hugely in deficit prior to 2003, had been stabilised. There had been a remarkable improvement of output for the two main smallholder cash crops, cocoa and copra.

Less optimistic opinions have been voiced by the Central Bank of the Solomon Islands, Rick Hou, and his predecessor, Tony Hughes, now an independent consultant and chairman of the newly established Solomon Islands branch of Transparency International.

Hou, in the bank's 2003 report, said while 2004 growth should reach four percent, by 2008 the country would still be poorer than it was in 1998.

Hughes warned that the next stage of the RAMSI intervention would be more difficult to achieve than restoring law and order since this would touch on the corruption of people "occupying very significant positions of power." RAMSI will use Australian Federal Police investigators to probe the looting under various pretences of tens of millions of dollars from the Solomon Islands Treasury by prominent politicians and businessmen, amongst others.

In parliament, politicians on both sides of the house are for the present maintaining a truce agreed to assist the country's recovery by keeping political infighting to a minimum.

Prime Minister, Sir Alan Kemakeza's government is thus more secure than it would otherwise be. Corruption investigations will inevitably reach people at cabinet level.

Kemakeza, according to leaked documents himself a significant beneficiary of a large "compensation" payout dished by what became an intimidated treasury, has said he can withstand any scrutiny of his past conduct. Other politicians are less confident.

Prior to a meeting of parliament expected to open on July 1 or soon afterwards, some high-level politicians were known to be hoping to succeed in obtaining the revocation of the act that gives RAMSI a legal presence in the country with effective control of key government departments.

Either side can give three months notice of their desire to withdraw from the country in RAMSI's case, or to request withdrawal in the government's case.

Should RAMSI's opponents have unlikely success in having the act repealed so as to foil corruption investigations against them, the consequences for the Solomon Islands would be grave. RAMSI would withdraw, as it is bound to do if given notice by the government.

Donor aid would be cut abruptly and the country would slide back into the mire.

RAMSI director, Nick Warner, has insisted that no corruption suspect will be immune from corruption inquiries.

A plan for a leadership integrity commission has been published under RAMSI sponsorship in May. The commission will be independent, with a parliamentary committee approving funding for it.

The existing Leadership Code Commission, Ombudsman's Office and Auditor-General would have a shared administrative frame with the same budget and resources and shared know-how but also keeping their separate roles.

The Australian National University and Centre for Democratic Institution in Canberra ran workshops for 36 provincial officials, administrators, school headmasters and nurses on good governance and accountability.

Another workshop was to improve capabilities of staff at the Ombudsman's Office. In May, the visiting Australian Minister for Justice and Customs, Senator Chris Ellison described RAMSI as an "overwhelming success".

In April, to reconcile Malaita with Guadalcanal and other islands resentful of Malaitan political and business dominance, Kemakeza, assured leaders of the Malaita Ma'asina Forum, an influential pressure group, that his government will back provincial development plans.

Some unrest is arising at provincial government level. The Guadalcanal and Isabel provincial premiers are demanding to be consulted closely by the central government about plans by foreign investors for the revival of gold mining and oil palm production in the case of Guadalcanal.

Isabel has reservations about a Canadian prospecting company's proposal for exploring the island's known nickel deposits.

Foreign exchange controls were eased slightly in May when the Central Bank of the Solomon Islands raised from S$5000 to S$25,000 the limit on foreign currency purchases allowable without its approval.

The bank's 2003 report said 2004 exports should grow by 43 percent to more than S$600 million over the 2003 figure.

This, combined with donor inflows is expected to lift external reserves to more than S$100 million. An improving positive balance of payments position should boost monetary growth while inflation, having fallen steeply, is expected to be relatively stable.

Exports were driven by log shipments at a rate the banks said was still unsustained and tuna export, with the 2003 catch of over 28,000 tonnes exceeded the 2002 catch by 10,000 tonnes.

The bank said recovery to pre-crisis levels so as to close the gap between the Solomon Islands and its neighbours could take five to ten years.

The bank said that despite any steady recovery of growth and although being one of the highest recipients of donor aid, the Solomon Islands will remain poor unless stringent population control is pursued.

The population grew by three percent annually during the four years of recession. It regards the growth of a young population as a "time bomb waiting to explode".

Japan has begun reviving the badly sagging anti-malaria programmes beginning with the retraining and certification of local microscopists in the detection of malaria parasites.

The Solomon Islands has one of the world's highest malaria rates, with more than 80,000 cases, about one-fifth of the population. Malaria is the leading cause of hospital admissions and child deaths.