Nearly 200 foreign soldiers and police are participating in a peacekeeping force on the Solomon Islands, where protesters attempted to burn down Parliament and the Prime Minister’s home.
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Fiji will participate in the Australian-led international peacekeeping force in the Solomon Islands. Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama announced on Sunday, November 28, a first dispatch of 50 soldiers to restore order after riots in Honiara, the capital. This brings the peacekeeping force to nearly 200, mostly Australian soldiers and police.
The crisis in the Solomon Islands erupted a week earlier, with three days of riots in Honiara. The people, who suffer from poverty and hunger, have expressed their anger at the government of this country of some 800,000 inhabitants. They accuse the executive of being corrupt and of being accountable to Beijing and other foreign interests.
During the riots, which killed at least three people, the demonstrators tried to burn down the Prime Minister’s private home and Parliament, before being dispersed by the police using tear gas and warning shots. Residents of the capital continued to clean up the city on Monday, where Chinatown has been reduced to a rubble field. This community was targeted in particular because the Solomons government severed diplomatic relations with Taiwan in favor of Beijing in 2019.
The secretary general of the Red Cross in the Solomon Islands warned that food was running out in Honiara and that aid organizations were assessing the need to distribute emergency aid. “It’s not clear but soon, in some crowded places, they might run out of food.”, he estimated.