under the influence of the riots Solomons cleansing begins as more foreign troops arrive Politics News

Clean-up operations have begun in the Solomon Islands-triggered capital, as Australian and Papua New Guinea soldiers and police have been helping to restore calm after several days. deadly incidents.

Residents of Honiara smashed broken glass, rubbish and rubbish on the streets on Sunday while heavy machinery from a heavily damaged neighborhood in China was taken away from the rubble of burnt shops.

Lots of rubbish were still filling the streets of the neighborhood, reminiscent of the robberies and riots that broke out earlier this week. anti-poverty protests, hunger and the policies of Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare.

“The situation has calmed down and people are moving normally, but the area is still unaware of what could happen,” Red Cross chief Kennedy Waitara told AFP news agency.

Waitara said many grocery stores were burned in the incidents.

“It won’t be surprising to see food shortages and rising prices,” he said.

“There will certainly be an increase in unemployment in the coming weeks as people become unemployed and it will be difficult.”

The clashes erupted on Wednesday after protesters tried to attack the Pacific island parliament, prompting police to shed tear gas. Demonstrators then set fire to buildings, including a police station and shops.

Sogavar set a 36-hour limit for Honia and asked for help from neighbors in his country. Australia and Papua New Guinea He sent 150 peacekeepers on Thursday and Friday, helping to calm the unrest in the nation of 800,000 people.

Police arrested more than 100 people and reported the first casualties of the uprising on Friday. A burnt-out shop in Chinatown was said to have found the remains of three people burned and a forensic team was working to identify the bodies.

Despite the calm, many people in the capital were too nervous to attend church services, Nason Ta’ake Honiara, the youth leader of Wesley United Church, said.

“Few people go to church services because most of them still live in fear,” Ta’ak told AFP.

After leaving the church, parishioners began searching the shops for food and essential goods, but very few were open, he said.

A first estimate of the cost of the uprising released by the Solomon Islands Central Bank this weekend said 56 buildings in the capital had been burned and looted, and many businesses were facing a recovery of more than a year.

The economic loss was expected to be at least $ 28 million, as the bank’s governor warned that national accounts – already struggling to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic – were further weakened as a result of the riots.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Sunday that more Australian Federal Police would arrive in the Solomon Islands, adding that Fiji hoped to help troops as well.

“Even though things are very unstable at the moment … we know they are making plans to make sure there can be calm,” he said.

The Australian leader said it was up to the Solomon Islands to resolve the crisis.

“It is not up to us to intervene in their democracy. It’s not up to us to interfere with how they solve these problems, ”Morrison said, noting that Australian forces were only aiming to provide a safe environment for this to happen.

Many in Solomon Islands believe that their government is corrupt and owes it to Beijing and other foreign interests.

Opposition leaders called for a vote of confidence in Sogavare on Saturday.

There may still not be enough votes to approve the motion and remove him from office, but that move could create another impetus.

The pro-Beijing leader said foreign powers that were opposed to the decision to change Solomon’s 2019 diplomatic loyalty from Taiwan to China were behind the clashes.

But others highlighted the tensions between the islands and widespread unemployment among the country’s population, 40% of whom are under 14 years old.

On Friday, the Chinese government condemned the violence and vowed to “protect the security and legal rights and interests of Chinese citizens and organizations”.