Fragile peace as deadly riots ease in Solomons
Calm returned to the Solomon Islands capital Honiara after days of rioting left at least three dead and reduced sections of the city to smouldering ruins.
Petrol stations, shops and other businesses began to reopen, with Honiara residents flocking to buy basic provisions as the violence ebbed.
“The situation is very tense and anything could happen any time,” said Audrey Awao, a working mother who worried there would soon be no food left in the shops.
What began as a small protest on Wednesday quickly descended into a violent freefor-all, with poor Honiara residents joining anti-government protesters to rampage through the shattered glass and burnt-out remains of businesses.
For three straight days, angry mobs cut through the usually sleepy seaside capital, demanding the removal of Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare.
Two years of pandemic-induced closed borders have left the already ravaged Solomons economy in tatters, deepening widespread joblessness and poverty among the population of about 800,000.
An early estimate of the cost, released by the Central Bank of the Solomon Islands, said 56 buildings in the capital had been burnt and looted, with many businesses facing more than a year-long recovery. The loss to the economy was expected to be at least $39m, with the bank’s governor warning that the nation’s accounts – already struggling to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic – had been further weakened by the riots.
A more thorough estimate of the damage would be released in the coming days, he said.
“Now the PM needs to step down,” a self-employed 32year-old, who gave his name as Selson, told AFP. “That’s the demand for all citizens of the Solomon Islands.”
Local police said a forensic team was working to identify the charred remains of three bodies found in a shop in the city’s Chinatown district.
Heavily armed police were a visible presence on nearby streets as locals began cleanup operations and limited bus services resumed. A nighttime curfew and the presence of about 150 foreign peacekeepers from Australia and Papua New Guinea appeared to have helped cool tensions.
But the scale of the recovery was coming into sharp focus, even as the city remained on edge.