Why rioters are burning and looting in the islands

HONIARA • As Australia rushes peacekeepers to the Solomon Islands to quell riots, here are some key facts about the former British protectorate long beset by political and ethnic unrest.

The islands have struggled with inter-island tensions and political violence since gaining independence in 1978. The origins of the latest crisis date back to a period of civil unrest between 1998 and 2003 known as "The Tensions".

Residents of the principal island of Guadalcanal had come to resent the influence of settlers from other islands, in particular Malaita, the most populous province. Guadalcanal militants attacked settlers in 1998, giving rise to five years of tit-for-tat sectarian unrest.

Calm was restored in 2003 by a peacekeeping mission from 15 Pacific nations, including Australia and New Zealand.

Riots erupted in April 2006 after Mr Snyder Rini was elected prime minister by legislators. Dozens of businesses owned by ethnic Chinese were looted and burnt in the capital Honiara. Local resentment had been building against the dominance of foreign business figures - mostly ethnic Chinese from Taiwan, China, Malaysia and the Philippines - as well as anger over corruption, inequality and resource exploitation.

Chinese businesses were targeted partly because of claims that they and Taiwan - which at the time had diplomatic ties with Honiara - helped finance Mr Rini to bribe legislators for their support.

In 2019, the Guadalcanal-Malaita rivalry converged with international geopolitics when veteran politician Manasseh Sogavare became prime minister, sparking violent protests. One of his election platforms was to switch diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China.

He did so five months later, paving the way for unlocking huge sums of Chinese investment but it was far from unanimously popular, particularly on Malaita where residents had benefited from Taiwanese aid projects and maintained deep links with Taipei.

This week's violence is a continuation of all of the above. Writing in the Solomon Times, Dr Transform Aqorau described it as "a culmination of a number of flashpoints that have been ignored", citing the China-Taiwan split, as well as tensions between the national and provincial governments.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE