Solomons PM defends jailed police minister

CANBERRA (Reuters) – Solomon Islands Prime Minister
Manasseh Sogavare defended the appointment of a jailed
politician as his country’s new police minister on Sunday,
saying evidence the new minister had incited riots might not
hold up in court.

Australia has said it has concerns over Friday’s
appointment of two jailed politicians to the Solomons cabinet,
including Sogavare’s decision to appoint Charles Dausebea,
refused bail on charges of inciting riots, as the new police
minister.

But Sogavare said there was nothing in his country’s
constitution to prevent the appointments or to stop Dausebea
from running the police ministry from a jail cell.

“There is nothing constitutionally wrong in appointing
these two persons to hold portfolios,” Sogavare told Australian
Broadcasting Corp. television on Sunday.

“Those charges are yet to be proven in court. And we have
evidence that some of this evidence is really questionable.”

Both Dausebea and new minister Nelson Ne have been refused
bail on charges of inciting the destructive riots and looting
in the Solomons capital Honiara after the April 18 election of
Snyder Rini as the nation’s prime minister.

The two days of riots and looting destroyed mainly Chinese
businesses in Honiara and forced Rini to later step down, with
parliament electing Sogavare in his place last Thursday.

The tiny Chinese business population was targeted and most
of Honiara’s Chinatown was destroyed because of rumors that aid
money from Taiwan was used to help elect Rini and that his
government was heavily influenced by local Chinese businessmen.

Nearly 400 troops and an extra 120 police from Australia,
New Zealand, Fiji, Tonga and Papua New Guinea were sent to
Honiara in the past fortnight to restore order.

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Australia
would make representations to the Solomons about the cabinet
appointments, which he said would damage the standing of the
Solomons in the Pacific and wider international community.

The Solomons, once a British protectorate known as “The
Happy Isles,” was on the brink of collapse in 2003 because of
ethnic fighting, prompting Australia to lead a multinational
peacekeeping force to restore peace.

Downer has said the nation of bout 500,000 people spread
over 992 islands covering 1.35 million sq km (520,000 sq miles)
would struggle to end corruption and political instability.