Corruption and prosperity don't go together in the Solomons

Kaylea Fearn

Australians watched in horror as the capital of the Solomon Islands, Honiara, was burning in April this year. After hundreds of millions of dollars invested by the Australian government into the Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI), the Solomon Islands was still floundering.

Six months on, the reports from the Solomon Islands have died down, but the question still remains: what would cause a community to burn down its own capital city, and when will the violence be over for good?

In July 2003, Australia joined ten other Pacific nations in sending RAMSI to restore law and order, after years of ethnic and historic tension led to violence perpetrated primarily by militias. The violence resulted in over one hundred reported deaths, approximately 30,000 people being displaced, and a collapse in the already struggling economy.

Since then, many Solomon Islanders have looked to economic investment and trade with countries such as Australia and Taiwan as a potential way forward. Despite many efforts, there is currently very little sustainable industry and even less infrastructure. Businesses in Honiara often go without electricity and running water for days.

While the absence of basic services and reliable business practice is a visible concern, the heart of the issue provoking the continuing unrest in the Solomons is more of a moral one.

According to Martha Horiwapu, coordinator of the trauma-counselling program for Caritas Solomon Islands (CSI), the underlying issues stem from a culture of mistrust, corruption and unhealed wounds. High levels of trauma have been recorded amongst the population and there are arguably specific links between overcoming trauma and lasting peace.

“We [the Solomon Islands] won’t be able to achieve complete reconciliation until there is healing. When people’s minds are healed, they can move on and live their lives again,” she says.

“We try to create a space for rehabilitation of the mind. People have witnessed and committed terrible acts of violence during the ethnic tension and need specific treatment."

With these needs in mind, CSI has developed a community-based trauma counselling program and the results have been encouraging. Martha reports that one example of the program’s effectiveness is a drop in cases of sexual and domestic abuse in participating communities.

Despite many successful programs enacted by NGOs, continuing community distrust is demonstrated in the possession and use of firearms. Furthermore, governmental instability following the April elections has been a focus for the international media. There have been many reported feuds between Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare and Attorney-General Primo Afeau.

However, David Mills, member of Initiatives of Change and organiser of last year’s Winds of Change: Solomon Islands conference, has seen a dramatic shift in community attitudes since the April elections.

“Before, for most people, the very idea of corruption was inconceivable. Now, there is recognition that it exists within the community and that it is a bad thing. This is a significant transition. The people are ready to consolidate,” he said.

Judith Fangalasuu, general secretary of the Solomon Islands Christian Association (SICA), agrees with Mills and adds that not only are Solomon Islanders now aware of corruption, they are keen to change the culture.

“People in Honiara are ready to move on and do something about combating corruption. They now realise that it has been the major contributing factor to our instability,” says Fangalasuu.

In the past six months, conferences held by major community groups to discuss the principles of integrity and transparency have been extremely well attended. The same influence groups have also convinced RAMSI to start handing back responsibilities to the Solomon Islander people.

These major developments have led SICA to organise ‘The National Ethical Leadership Conference’, which will be held 1-2 November, and will include 52 parliamentarians, all the provincial premiers, and prominent business people.

Fangalasuu believes that this conference will help lay the foundations for developing trust in the community, but also stresses that people adopt an anti-corruption mentality for the country to prosper.

“It’s easy to say that politicians and business people need to change. But we all need to realise that we have to change on a personal level too, and consider our own integrity. [But] it’s hard for people when the price of living keeps rising and there is no cash around."

With Solomon Islanders preparing to work more closely with RAMSI on identifying ways of institutionalising community input and outreach, there is an opportunity now for the country to take its first real steps as a fully independent nation. The hope is that in reaching for a brighter future, some are not left behind.

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Ukraine coal mine blast traps 43

More than 40 miners were trapped in a coal mine in eastern Ukraine on Wednesday when a mixture of coal powder and methane exploded, a spokesman for the emergencies ministry said.

Ihor Krol said the incident occurred at around 0200 GMT at Zasyadko mine in the Donetsk coal basin. "Altogether 43 miners have been trapped. Their fate remains unknown," he said.

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Thailand's PM ousted in military coup

DENIS D. GRAY,
Associated Press Writer

In the dead of night and without firing a shot, Thailand's military overthrew popularly elected Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra on Tuesday amid mounting criticism that he had undermined democracy.

The sudden, well-orchestrated coup — the first in 15 years and a throwback to an unsettled era in Thailand — was likely to spark both enthusiasm and criticism at home and abroad. The military said it would soon return power to a democratic government but did not say when.

Striking when Thaksin was in New York at the U.N. General Assembly, army commander Gen. Sondhi Boonyaratkalin sent tanks and troops into the drizzly, nighttime streets of Bangkok. The military ringed Thaksin's offices, seized control of television stations and declared a provisional authority loyal to the king.

On Wednesday, in his first public appearance since seizing power, Sondhi said that the overthrow was needed "in order to resolve the conflict and bring back normalcy and harmony among people."

"We would like to reaffirm that we don't have any intention to rule the country and will return power to the Thai people as soon as possible," he said a brief television address. He was flanked by the three armed forces chiefs and the head of the national police force.

He said the newly created Council of Administrative Reform carried out the coup to end intensifying conflicts in Thai society, corruption in the government, insults to the revered Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej, and what the general called Thaksin's attempts to destroy democratic institutions.

The coup leaders declared martial law, revoked the constitution and ordered all troops not to leave duty stations without permission from their commanders. The stock exchange was closed Wednesday, along with schools, banks and government offices.

In an apparent effort to block any moves by Thaksin supporters, especially those in the countryside, a council statement urged farmers and workers to remain calm, adding that any assembly of more than five people was punishable by six months in prison.

Across the capital, Thais who trickled out onto barren streets welcomed the surprise turn of events as a necessary climax to months of demands for Thaksin to resign amid allegations of corruption, electoral skullduggery and a worsening Muslim insurgency. Many people were surprised, but few in Bangkok seemed disappointed.

A few dozen people raced over to the prime minister's office to take pictures of some 20 tanks surrounding the area.

"This is exciting. Someone had to do this. It's the right thing," said Somboon Sukheviriya, 45, a software developer snapping pictures of the armored vehicles with his cell phone.

The U.S. State Department said it was uneasy about the military takeover.

"We are monitoring the situation with concern," a statement said. "We continue to hope that the Thai people will resolve their political differences in accord with democratic principles and the rule of law."

Japan and New Zealand criticized the coup. Australia used stronger language, saying it was concerned to see democracy "destroyed."

Sondhi, 59, who is known to be close to the revered constitutional monarch, will serve as acting prime minister, army spokesman Col. Akarat Chitroj said. Sondhi, well-regarded within the military, is a Muslim in this Buddhist-dominated nation.

Sondhi was selected last year to head the army partly because it was felt he could better deal with the Muslim insurgency in southern Thailand, where 1,700 people have been killed since 2004. Recently, Sondhi urged negotiations with the separatists in contrast to Thaksin's hard-fisted approach. Many analysts have said that with Thaksin in power, peace in the south was unlikely.

In New York, Thaksin declared a state of emergency in an audio statement via a government-owned TV station in Bangkok — a vain attempt to stave off the coup. He later canceled a scheduled address to the U.N. General Assembly.

A Foreign Ministry official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said Thaksin tentatively planned to return to Thailand quickly. The official said he could not comment on the possibility of his being arrested if he returned.

"The prime minister has not given up his power, he is not seeking asylum," said Tom Kruesopon, CEO of Boon Rawd Trading International Co., who said he was speaking on behalf of Thaksin. Kruesopon added there was uncertainty over Thaksin's immediate plans.

However, Thaksin's official government spokesman, Surapong Suebwonglee, also with Thaksin and contacted by phone from Bangkok, painted a gloomier picture.

"We have to accept what happened," he said. "We are not coming back soon."

Thaksin, a telecommunications tycoon turned politician, handily won three general elections since coming to power in 2001 and garnered great support among the rural poor for his populist policies.

But he alienated the urban middle class, intellectuals and pro-democracy activists. They began mass street demonstrations late last year, charging Thaksin with abuse of power, corruption and emasculation of the country's democratic institutions, including what was once one of Asia's freest presses.

He also alienated a segment of the military by claiming senior officers had tried to assassinate him in a failed bombing attempt. He also attempted to remove officers loyal to Sondhi from key positions.

Some of Thaksin's critics wanted to jettison his policies promoting privatization, free trade agreements and CEO-style administration.

"I don't agree with the coup, but now that they've done it, I support it because Thaksin has refused to resign from his position," said Sasiprapha Chantawong, a university student. "Allowing Thaksin to carry on will ruin the country more than this."

Early Wednesday, the coup leaders announced that the appointment of the country's four regional army commanders to keep the peace and run civil administration in their respective areas outside Bangkok.

A senior army general, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation, said the chiefs of the army, navy and air force met with the king Tuesday to discuss formation of an interim government.

Bhumibol, a 78-year-old constitutional monarch with limited powers, has used his prestige to pressure opposing parties to compromise during political crises. He is credited with helping keep Thailand more stable than many of its Southeast Asian neighbors.

The bloodless coup was the first overt military intervention in the Thai political scene since 1991, when Suchinda Kraprayoon, a military general, toppled a civilian government in a bloodless takeover. An attempt by Suchinda to keep power led to street demonstrations, and he was ousted in 1992. Afterward, the military promised to remain in its barracks.

As recently as March, Sondhi, the army chief and Tuesday's coup leader, sought to ease speculation the military might join the protests against Thaksin.

"The army will not get involved in the political conflict. Political troubles should be resolved by politicians," Sondhi said then. "Military coups are a thing of the past."

___

Associated Press reporter Jocelyn Gecker contributed to this report.

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Iran leader says U.S. abusing U.N. power

SCHEHEREZADE FARAMARZI,
Associated Press Writer

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took aim at U.S. policies in Iraq and Lebanon on Tuesday, and accused Washington of abusing its power in the U.N. Security Council to punish others while protecting its own interests and allies.

He addressed the annual U.N. General Assembly hours after President Bush spoke to the same forum. But while Ahmadinejad harshly criticized the United States, Bush directed his remarks to the Iranian people in a clear insult to the hard-line government.

In his speech, Bush pointed to the Iranian government's rejection of a Security Council demand to stop enriching uranium by Aug. 31 or face sanctions.

"The greatest obstacle to this future is that your rulers have chosen to deny you liberty and to use your nation's resources to fund terrorism and fuel extremism and pursue nuclear weapons," the U.S. leader said.

"Iran must abandon its nuclear weapons ambitions," he said. "Despite what the regime tells you, we have no objection to Iran's pursuit of a truly peaceful nuclear power program."

He also said he hoped to see "the day when you can live in freedom, and America and Iran can be good friends and close partners in the cause of peace."

Ahmadinejad insisted that his nation's nuclear activities are "transparent, peaceful and under the watchful eye" of inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog. He also reiterated his nation's commitment to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

Earlier this month, Ahmadinejad proposed a debate with Bush at the General Assembly's ministerial meeting after the White House dismissed a previous TV debate proposal as a "diversion" from serious concerns over Iran's nuclear program.

But even though the two leaders were addressing the same forum, they skipped each other's speeches and managed to avoid direct contact during the ministerial meeting.

Ahmadinejad also accused the United States and Britain of using their veto power on the Security Council to further their own interests and he said it had become an "instrument of threat and coercion."

"If they have differences with a nation or state, they drag it to the Security Council," and assign themselves the roles of "prosecutor, judge and executioner," Ahmadinejad said. "Is this a just order?"

The U.S. and Britain played central roles in helping craft a U.N. Security Council resolution passed in July that gave Iran until Aug. 31 to suspend uranium enrichment and asked the IAEA to report on Tehran's compliance, dangling the threat of sanctions if Iran refused. Tehran made clear even before the deadline expired that it had no intention of suspending uranium enrichment.

The IAEA last week rejected a recent American report on Iran's nuclear capability, saying the Islamic republic has produced material only in small quantities that is far below the level that can be used in nuclear arms.

Ahmadinejad also criticized the Security Council for failing to call for an immediate cease-fire after war broke out between Israel and the Islamic militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon. A truce was only reached on Aug. 14 to end the 34-day conflict.

"The Security Council sat idly by for so many days, witnessing the cruel scenes of atrocities against the Lebanese ... Why?" asked Ahmadinejad, whose government is one of Hezbollah's main backers.

He said the answer is self-evident: "When the power behind the hostilities is itself a permanent member of the Security Council, how then can this council fulfill its responsibilities."

The United States and Britain refused to call for a cease-fire during the monthlong war between Israel and Hezbollah, declaring it part of war on terror. Only after Israel's failure to defeat Hezbollah and the deaths of nearly 1,000 Lebanese civilians did Washington and London agree to push for a truce by the U.N. Security Council.

The Iranian leader had harsh words about U.S. efforts in Iraq, saying "the occupiers are incapable of establishing security in Iraq" and every day hundreds of people get killed "in cold blood."

Ahmadinejad claimed that numerous terrorists apprehended by the Iraqi government were "let loose under various pretexts by the occupiers."

Domestically, Ahmadinejad, who doesn't enjoy widespread popularity among his people, has been able to use America's uncompromising stand against Iran's nuclear program to his own benefit. Many Iranians, including those who are against the president's domestic policies, support him in his showdown with the United States on the nuclear issue.

In an interview with "NBC Nightly News," Ahmadinejad was asked about Bush's appeal to the Iranian people.

"We have the same desire ... to be together for the cause of world peace," he said through a translator.

"We think that the American people are like our people. They're good people, they support peace, equality and brotherhood," he said.

He said his issue was with the U.S. administration.

"I explicitly say that I am against the policies chosen by the U.S. government to run the world because these policies are moving the world toward war," he said.

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Today in history - Sept. 20

The Associated Press

Today is Wednesday, Sept. 20, the 263rd day of 2006. There are 102 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Sept. 20, 1519, Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan set out from Spain on a voyage to find a western passage to the Spice Islands in Indonesia. (Magellan was killed en route, but one of his ships eventually circled the world.)

On this date:

In 1870, Italian troops took control of the Papal States, leading to the unification of Italy.

In 1873, panic swept the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in the wake of railroad bond defaults and bank failures.

In 1881, Chester A. Arthur was sworn in as the 21st president of the United States, succeeding the assassinated James A. Garfield.

In 1947, former New York City Mayor Fiorello La Guardia died.

In 1958, civil rights activist the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was seriously wounded during an appearance at a New York City department store when an apparently deranged woman stabbed him in the chest.

In 1962, black student James Meredith was blocked from enrolling at the University of Mississippi by Gov. Ross R. Barnett. (Meredith was later admitted.)

In 1973, in their so-called "battle of the sexes," tennis star Billie Jean King defeated Bobby Riggs in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3, at the Houston Astrodome.

In 1973, singer-songwriter Jim Croce died in a plane crash near Natchitoches, La; he was 30.

In 1976, Playboy magazine released an interview in which Democratic presidential nominee Jimmy Carter admitted he'd "looked on a lot of women with lust."

In 1984, a suicide car bomber attacked the U.S. Embassy annex in north Beirut, killing a dozen people.

Ten years ago: President Clinton announced his signing of a bill outlawing homosexual marriages, but said it should not be used as an excuse for discrimination, violence or intimidation against gays and lesbians.

Five years ago: President Bush cautioned a nation shaken by the 9/11 attacks that there were "struggles ahead and dangers to face" as America and its allies combat global terrorism. During an address to a joint session of Congress, Bush announced a new Cabinet-level office to fortify homeland security and named Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge its director.

One year ago: Rapidly strengthening Hurricane Rita lashed the Florida Keys and headed into the Gulf of Mexico. The number of U.S. service members killed in Iraq topped 1,900. Holocaust survivor and Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal died in Vienna, Austria, at age 96. The Sacramento Monarchs won their first championship with a 62-59 victory over the Connecticut Sun in Game 4 of the WNBA Finals.

Today's Birthdays: Basketball Hall of Fame coach Red Auerbach is 89. Singer Gogi Grant is 82. Actress-comedian Anne Meara is 77. Actress Sophia Loren is 72. Rock musician Chuck Panozzo is 59. Hockey player Guy LaFleur is 55. Jazz musician Peter White is 52. Actress Betsy Brantley is 51. Actor Gary Cole is 50. Actress Kristen Johnston is 39. Rock singers Gunnar Nelson and Matthew Nelson are 39. Rock musician Ben Shepherd is 38. Rock musician Rick Woolstenhulme (Lifehouse) is 27.

Thought for Today: "Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses." — George Washington Carver, American botanist (1864-1943).

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George W. Bush and "super-sized" war for freedom and values

Jack Waterford

Now that President George W. Bush has significantly upgraded his ‘War on Terror’, from simply a "clash of civilisations" to a war for "civilisation" itself, it is time to reflect on just what sort of a civilisation we are defending. By any standard, and whether or not the war is regarded as a struggle for land or ideas, western civilisation—or at least, American civilisation—is losing in the Middle East, in Asia, Africa, and in a good deal of Europe.

According to his speechwriter, “the sight of an old man pulling the election lever [except in Florida, we assume], girls enrolling in schools, or families worshipping God in their own traditions… the way of life enjoyed by free nations… for the possibility that good and decent people across the Middle East can raise up societies based on freedom and tolerance and personal dignity.”

I'm all for these things too, as well as apple pie, home ownership, private enterprise and the right to follow whatever football code one likes. But it's the increasing disconnection between what we say we are fighting for and what we actually seem to be fighting for, not to mention the increasing hysteria of those who insist that the price of maintaining our freedoms is the truncation of those very freedoms, which make me, and lots of others, wonder whether this is a war from which we should abstain.

“They form,” he says, “a global network of extremists who are driven by a perverted vision of Islam—a totalitarian ideology that hates freedom, rejects tolerance, and despises all dissent… their goal is to build a radical Islamist empire where women are prisoners in their homes, men are beaten for missing prayer meetings, and terrorists have a safe haven to plan and launch attacks on America and other civilised nations.”

Yet the evidence of our civilisation teetering on the brink is not very great, while the evidence against those on "our side" who would brutalise our culture and our freedoms, unconcerned about the means we use to defend our remaining freedoms, is getting increasingly substantial.

This is not to deny that there are terrorists in our midst, or a real threat of terrorist incidents, even in Australia. It is still of the essence of our society that the overwhelming proportion of Australians, including the overwhelming proportion of our Muslim Australians, reject and repudiate the ideology of our terrorists, and that there is no prospect whatsoever of that ideology prevailing here. There is, however, the possibility that the threat is being over-dramatised.

George Bush, John Howard and others insist that we are winning the long war against terrorists, and perhaps by body count they are right. But there is evidence that even within our own societies, the way we fight the war has not only positively recruited young men and women willing to give their lives against us, but massively increased popular sympathy for such people in some parts of the world.

"Our side" has stumbled badly in trying to make a complete conspiracy of a movement with many faces and many differing aspirations. In doing so, we may well have created a unity which might otherwise not have existed. There are and were links between Islamist movements in Morocco, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Indonesia and the Philippines, but each had very local features and grievances, and the idea that shadowy figures such as Osama bin Laden were, or are, calling the shots is ludicrous.

It is useful to remember that the intelligence debacle that so convinced George W. Bush of the need to make Iraq a battleground, was not confined to false views about the existence of weapons of mass destruction, but also arose from false ideas about the attitude of Iraqis to their liberation. There is no evidence that it has confronted this failure: the optimism that things will ultimately come out right looks more and more like wishful thinking.

The real war—the war of ideology—will not be won in Canberra, London or Washington—but in the hearts and minds of people in countries quite different from ours. Muslim countries, and also those countries on the fringes of Islam, in Africa, behind the old Iron Curtain, Thailand and the Philippines must, if George Bush's notion of freedom is to prevail, repudiate not only terrorism, but the medievalist vision of the complete Islamic state which provides it.

During this phony war, instead, we have probably amplified, particularly through television and the cinema, all of the images which make our civilisation seem alien and unattractive—even horrifying—to "them". From the point of view of Australians, moreover, we probably reinforced the notion that the freedom for which we were fighting was Americanism, not our own rather different culture.

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