Australian troops ready to quell Solomons rioting

Politics International Politics
1

I don’t follow these events w/Aus & The Solomons, but I do seem to remember this having ocurred a few times previously.
Anyone have info on the history of Aus troops deployed to the Solomons?

[quote]Australian troops ready to quell Solomons rioting
Apr 19, 2006, 0:32 GMT

Sydney - Canberra is set to rush troops back to the Solomons after 17 Australian police officers serving in the troubled South Pacific nation were injured in street battles with rioters aggrieved at the outcome of the first general election since 2001.

‘We have quite a few troops on 24-hour standby,’ Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said. ‘We can send them pretty quickly, and we’ll be looking at that over the course of this morning.’

In a night of post-election violence, shops and factories in the capital Honiara were looted and burned, a huge setback for the Australian-led intervention force that arrived two years ago to restore order after years of lawlessness and bloodshed in the Solomons.
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Australian Prime Minister John Howard expressed disappointment that mob rule had returned.

‘Australia has made a very strong commitment to the long-term future of the Solomon Islands,’ Howard said. ‘I hope the situation stabilizes, because we do want democracy to work effectively in the Solomons, and it has to be possible in a democratic society for a change of government, a change of prime minister, to take place without a hostile response.’

The Solomons is a collection of 1,000 islands and 450,000 people that became independent in 1975.
Aussie Troops to the Solomons[/quote]

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[quote=“TainanCowboy”]Anyone have info on the history of Aus troops deployed to the Solomons?
[/quote]

Wasn’t the 1st time they were there in the 20’s, (1927?) as part of a British “punitive expedition”?

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Some are saying that the Aussie’s are more a problem than a solution.
Incitement

Corruption.

[quote]An exasperated long-time Australian resident of Honiara told The Age: "What must RAMSI be doing wrong if a bunch of crooks have got up in the first election in the Solomons after their intervention? The guns are gone but the dirty money remains.

Instead of arresting the prize culprits, the Australian Federal Police give them close personal protection guards".[/quote]

The Solomans are one of the few countries that recognise Taiwan over China. It appears Taiwan had its hands in the election.

[quote]Reports from Honiara say that Taiwanese-backed candidates ran in most of the 50 electorates and won many of the seats. Labour Party leader Joses Tuhanuku