Country report: Spotlight on Solomon Islands

Some basic facts

Joined Commonwealth: 1978
Capital: Honiara
Population: 507,000 (2008)
GDP p c growth: -2.1% p.a. 1990–2006
Official language: English
Time: GMT plus 11hr
Currency: Solomon Islands dollar (SI$)
Last Elections: April 2006
Next Elections: 2010
Head of State: Queen Elizabeth II, represented by governor-general, Sir Frank Ofagioro Kabui (2009-)
Head of Government: The Hon Derek Sikua, Prime Minister
Ruling Party: Coalition for National Unity and Rural Advancement
Independence: 7 July 1978

What is the recent political history in Solomon Islands?

Solomon Islands’ politics does not feature a strong party system and has instead been characterised by fluid coalitions of parties and independents. Until 1997, the predominant governing coalitions were the Solomon Islands National Unity, Reconciliation and Progressive Party (SINURP) led by Solomon Mamaloni, and the National Coalition Partners (NCP) under Prime Minister Francis Billy Hilly.

At the 1993 elections, the NCP coalition came to power under the leadership of Francis Billy Hilly, who became prime minister. However, he resigned in November 1994 when he was no longer able to command a majority and was succeeded by SINURP’s leader, Solomon Mamaloni.

During this period of Mamaloni’s leadership, the economy remained precarious, despite good growth in exports. At the next general election in August 1997, his main challenge came from Bartholomew Ulufa’alu, leading a new group, the Alliance for Change, comprising several small parties and independents. The new coalition won, and Ulufa’alu became prime minister on 27 August 1997.

In July 1998, while parliament was in recess, Ulufa’alu dismissed Finance Minister Manasseh Sogavare and brought two members of the opposition Group for National Security and Advancement into the cabinet. Sogavare then led a group of six MPs to join the opposition, and though he could barely command a majority in parliament, Ulufa’alu appeared determined to continue in government.

In the latter part of 1998, growing intercommunal tensions in Guadalcanal Province erupted into violence. The indigenous people of Guadalcanal were concerned about continuing settlement on the island of large numbers of Solomon Islanders from other islands and especially from Malaita, who dominated the national public service and the private sector in the capital, Honiara, located in Guadalcanal.

During 1999 the violence intensified and many thousands of Malaitans (including many long-standing residents of Guadalcanal) were driven to take refuge in Honiara or return to Malaita. In June a state of emergency was declared and, at the government’s request, the Commonwealth Secretary-General sent Sitiveni Rabuka, former prime minister of Fiji Islands, to broker a peace deal. Agreement was reached on restoring peace and on the longer-term achievement of a more equitable ethnic balance in the national public service and the police force. A Commonwealth peace-monitoring group was to be provided.

Following further unrest, in August 1999 Rabuka brokered a new peace agreement (known as the Panatina Agreement) which included a reduction in police presence in Guadalcanal Province with effect from mid-August. In September 1999 the state of emergency was ended and in October a Commonwealth peace-monitoring group began supervision of the handover of arms by the militants.

However, ethnic unrest continued into 2000, led by opposing militia – Malaita Eagle Force and Isatabu Freedom Movement. In June 2000 Malaita Eagle Force took the prime minister and governor-general captive and compelled the prime minister to resign. When it was able to convene a quorum of members on an Australian warship, parliament elected Manasseh Sogavare as prime minister and he formed a new government.

With the support of the Australian and New Zealand Governments, the warring militia and the national and provincial governments engaged in a peace process leading in October 2000 to the signing of a peace agreement in Townsville, Australia. This provided for a general amnesty for all members and former members of the militia on the condition that they hand in their arms within a given timeframe, and economic development of the island of Malaita. Former militia members were to be involved in the collection of arms and the return of law and order, and an international monitoring team was to supervise the handover of arms.

Sporadic outbreaks of violence continued. Another peace agreement was concluded in February 2001 but still there were armed militia at large and many weapons remained in the hands of former militia members. Though it had to be postponed from August to December 2001, a general election was nevertheless held and the ruling People’s Progressive Party (PPP) was heavily defeated, retaining only three seats, and only 19 members of the previous parliament held their seats. The People’s Alliance Party, led by former deputy prime minister Sir Allan Kemakeza, won 20 seats and the Solomon Islands Alliance for Change (SIAC) 12. Kemakeza formed a coalition with the Association of Independent Members (AIM) led by Snyder Rini (finance minister in the PPP government), and Kemakeza was elected prime minister by parliament.

In June 2003 Kemakeza, with the unanimous approval of parliament and the support of regional leaders, accepted Australia’s offer to lead an international intervention force to restore law and order. The force of some 2,200 soldiers and police from Australia, New Zealand, Fiji Islands, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu, began operations in July 2003. Its first priority was to disarm the various militias and restore order. By 2005 the force had been reduced to a few hundred.

In the April 2006 election, with a Commonwealth observer group present, 16 members of the government lost their seats. Kemakeza retained his seat but his People’s Alliance Party was much reduced while Snyder Rini’s AIM did well, with 13 newly elected members. Rini was subsequently elected prime minister by the new parliament. Rioting then broke out and a large portion of Chinatown in Honiara was destroyed by fire. In the same month Rini stood down when he no longer had the support of the majority of members of parliament and early in May 2006 parliament elected Manasseh Sogavare (leader of the Social Credit Party) as prime minister.

Sogavare was ousted in December 2007 in a parliamentary vote of no confidence, which was precipitated by the defection in November of nine government ministers. The leader of the recently established Coalition for National Unity and Rural Advancement, and education minister in the Sogavare administration, Derek Sikua, became prime minister.

In the fourth round of voting, in June 2009, parliament elected Frank Kabui to succeed Sir Nathaniel Waena as governor-general with effect from July.

How does the Commonwealth Secretariat help Solomon Islands?

The following articles describe some of the Commonwealth’s projects, which aim to assist the Pacific country:

• Online community promotes ‘fakalakalaka’ in the Pacific

Innovative Pacific Village website allows public servants to network and boosts enterprise

• Profile: Alfred Lovanitila, primary contact point for Solomon Islands

Assistant Secretary for Foreign Affairs offers a snapshot of just some of the Secretariat’s support to his remote island nation during a recent pan-Commonwealth summit

• Sharma meets beneficiaries of Youth Credit Initiative

Loans, training, education and business support are given to young entrepreneurs

• Government officials discover ‘new twists’ in disaster management during intensive training

Officials responsible for disaster management recount experiences following Commonwealth-funded training programme in Singapore

• Three small island states make submission for 600,000 square kilometres of seabed

Commonwealth assists Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia

Case study: Breaking new ground in Solomon Islands’ judiciary

Nigerian barrister appointed as the country’s first female judge

On 5 June 2008, Nkemdilim Amelia Izuako was appointed as the first female judge in the High Court of Solomon Islands.

Justice Izuako, who worked in the capital Honiara until July 2009, saw herself as an advocate for women’s rights and development, as well as for a fully functioning judiciary.

‘I’ve tried not only to bring my experiences to bear in the Solomon Islands judiciary, but also to mobilise women to help develop their country’, says Justice Izuako, who has spent most of her 26-year judicial career in her homeland, Nigeria.

As a puisne judge, she presided over civil and criminal cases and issued rulings and judgments. Drafted in with the help of the CFTC to address the small island state’s shortage of judges, Justice Izuako assisted in mentoring legal professionals in Solomon Islands and helped to develop their potential to hold high judicial office. She also engaged the leadership of the local Bar Association, Public Solicitor’s Office, Attorney-General’s Office and the Office of Public Prosecutions in discussions about building the capacity of lawyers to serve the Melanesian nation.

The training programme is still being planned, she says, but meanwhile Justice Izuako worked to set an example of high judicial standards in court, including thorough research and attention to detail.

‘After just a year, I could see improvements in standards around me and better levels of preparation by lawyers’, she notes.

Outside the courtroom, Justice Izuako worked to assist social development by mobilising local women to form the Honiara Women’s Initiative, which undertakes micro-projects for the economic and social empowerment of women and girls. As a result of a pilot project, the initiative has already put 20 women through a six-week course in tailoring.

‘I am confident that the social mobilisation of women through these projects will help make a difference in the long term’, says Justice Izuako. Her plans even go beyond this initiative:

‘I produced a concept paper on the design of a programme on remedial education for young school drop-outs’, she adds. ‘I have also consulted and received a promise of funding for a continuing legal education project from the European Union Resident Adviser in Solomon Islands’.

Before moving to Solomon Islands, Justice Izuako worked for more than two decades in the Nigerian judiciary, including working with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to put together a Judicial Ethics Training Manual for the Nigerian judiciary. She also served previously in The Gambia for the CFTC from January 2004 to February 2006, serving as a judge of the High Court and Court of Appeal.

In March 2009, she was appointed an ad litem judge to the United Nations Dispute Tribunal, which started on 1 July and took her away from Solomon Islands and to Kenya. The tribunal, which is located in Nairobi, New York and Geneva, works to improve the UN’s system of dealing with internal grievances and disciplinary cases.

Justice Izuako, who took on the CFTC placement in Solomon Islands to experience judicial work in a country other than her own, found her time there to be invaluable. She felt that the culture of the Solomon Islands was welcoming and caring – for example, on her arrival, colleagues offered help and invited her and her family to their homes.

‘This CFTC assignment promotes better understanding of different cultures and makes one more aware of similarities rather than differences among people’, says Justice Izuako. ‘It provides the people of the host country with an insight into the lives and ways of people from other lands. It helps to develop friendships that otherwise could never happen. In little ways, such relationships work for world peace’.

Overall, Justice Izuako adds, ‘I was interested in seeing the practice of the law and being part of it in other common law countries. I wanted a larger space, which would cut across peoples and cultures to experience the application of the law. The CFTC is the platform upon which I have realised my dreams’.

For more information on Solomon Islands, click here

Key Links:

• Country Profile: Solomon Islands