The Intelligence Failure Behind Honiara s Riots

2 May 2006

The Intelligence Failure Behind Honiara sRiots

Report by Yasmine Ryan Images byJason Dorday Based on assignment in the SolomonIslands

Rumours are flying across the SolomonIslands as to why the Participatory Police Force failedto prevent much of the extensive rioting that took place inHoniara on 18 and 19 April. Anger flared up following theannouncement of Snyder Rini s appointment to the role ofPrime Minister, especially over allegations that Taiwanesemoney had been involved in buying votes.

The violence didnot break out immediately, but rather simmered for a coupleof hours before the situation began to rapidly deteriorate. During this time, critics argue that the extensive damage,especially the virtual annihilation of the business quarterknown as Chinatown, could have been prevented if correctcrowd control had been carried out. Others maintain thatthe demonstrators outside Parliament were aggravated by thePPF Specialist Operation unit being called in. At 3.23pm,they deployed tear gas and flash grenades on the crowd,which some blame as the real trigger for theriots.

Dr John Roughan believesa Royal Commission into what happened during the riots isneeded

Dr John Roughan is originally fromNew York, but has resided in Honiara for the past 48 years.He has been a vocal critic of its corrupt politicians. Healso runs the Solomon Islands Development Trust. The localis amazed that the crowd managed to get all the way toChinatown from outside Parliament, which is on a hilloverlooking Honiara. He is calling for a Royal Commissionto investigate what occurred. 'You had approximately twoand a half, if not three hours that this crowd was goingdown towards Chinatown.

Significantly, access intoChinatown is limited to two bridges over a river. Criticsof PPF operations during the riots point out that roadblockscould have been established in the several hours between thebeginning of the unrest outside Parliament and theironslaught of Chinatown.

The former businessdistrict of Chinatown, targeted byrioters

Naturalised Solomon IslanderPatrick Leong says that on Wednesday, around 2.30pm, about22 PPF were stationed at his Pacific Casino Hotel. Thehotel, which is on a seafront property, is not in Chinatown.He says he was told by an officer 'oh you better go run foryour life . A mob was coming from the Honiara Casino, and hesays the PPF left, besides two who stayed with him. He ranout the back exit and escaped on a passing canoe. Fromthere, he watched the destruction of his extensivebusinesses, including the Pacific Casino Hotel and theFortune Restaurant. He is critical of RAMSI for failing toprotect his businesses. He told Phil Goff last Thursdaythat he no longer had confidence in RAMSI.

Roughancompares the recent events to a 1989 riot that erupted inHoniara following a soccer game. Then, a crowd of 5,000youths went rioting. Although the situation could have beenvery serious, the mob was stopped by police at a bottleneckand the situation was effectively contained. Tear gas wasused and 'the police were very much in charge There was somelooting in Chinatown, but I don t remember anyfires.

Preplanned and Organised

Evidence andintelligence is now emerging, however, indicating thatrather than a spontaneous outburst of anger, the riots werepre-planned and organised by a group of instigators andcoordinators that had some kind of hierarchy. This level ofcoordination made it very difficult for the unprepared PPFto control and disperse the crowds.

Rather than a singlemob, there were pockets of rioters popping up acrossHoniara, and at one stage, on the island of Malaita. Thismeant resources were spread thinly, and a strategy of lifeover property was adopted by the PPF, with good reason. Thus you have incredible destruction of local businesses andhousing, but no loss of life at all.

Intelligence hadonly indicated to RAMSI that the demonstration of a fewhundred outside Parliament would take place, andconsequently, this was where PPF were concentrated. Theywere not, however, anticipating things to get quite so nastyin even this spot.

In the initial stages, the weapons usedby the crowd were spontaneous -- mainly rocks. Later on,axes and bush knives were seen, and even some firearms. Theperpetrators targeted PPF vehicles, in what appears to be aclear attempt to disrupt PPF mobility. 'Some of thedestruction, with the vehicles particularly, clearlyindicated a coordinated, organised approach , says oneanonymous source. The windows would be smashed, and thenaccelerant poured inside, before the vehicles were setalight.

Walking through Chinatown, two things are veryclear. The first is the sheer scale of the destruction. Asthe photos show, we re not just talking about a few brokenwindows and stolen TVs. The buildings are burnt right tothe ground. This corresponds with information that smallconcealed bottles of accelerant were carried by some membersof the crowds. Fire services were prevented from gettinginto Chinatown.

Secondly, certain buildings are stillstanding, some owned by ethnic Solomon Islanders, but alsoseveral belonging to ethnic Chinese. Just what exemptedsome of these buildings remains unclear.

The extent ofsimmering tensions with the ethnic Chinese community, whilea factor, doesn t really explain the outburst. As Roughansays, the pre-RAMSI period of serious instability (1998-July2003), 'would have been the time, from my point of view,that the Chinese would have felt the pain, the sting. Butnothing happened. There was no looting, no burning,nothing. The ethnic Chinese community, particularly thenewer migrants, have been targets at times, but never onthis scale.

Local businessmanPatrick Leong outside his house. His properties, includingthe Pacific Casino Hotel and Fortune Restaurant, weredestroyed

The attack on his propertiescertainly caught Leong by surprise. He says he didn t callin guards he had available because he didn t believe hisbusinesses would be targeted: 'I think I am clean, I am notpolitical . Leong says he can only guess who was responsiblefor inciting the destruction of his properties, but that itis likely to be a business competitor.

He thinks the vastmajority of the mob were simply looters, while a tinyminority had ulterior motives. This view is held by manyothers. The waves of looting and burning across Honiarawere diverse in nature, some involving deliberatedestruction of infrastructure, but others relativelynon-violent, opportunistic looting. There are endlessreports of families and ordinary Solomon Islanders walkinginto to buildings and carrying out big screen TVs and thelike, in a way that appears to be unconnected to the moresinister motivations behind the riots.

The arrest ofCharles Dausabea suggests that he is a key player in theorganisation behind the rioting. More details are likely tocome out in the trial. But with the corruption which isendemic to Solomon Islands and a political culture thatshuns transparency, it may be very difficult to illuminatethe full complexities in the public arena. Roughan ssuggestion of a Royal Commission may be the best idea.

Clueless

Given that this level of organisationcompletely took RAMSI by surprise, it is hard to criticizethe way they conducted their operations on the Tuesday andWednesday of the riots. What should be questioned is why nointelligence was picked up that may have alerted RAMSI ofwhat to expect. Foreknowledge could have prevented much ofthe damage.

For instance, RAMSI troops were not in Honiaraat the time of riots, but in the provinces. The PPF wereforced to cope with the outburst alone. This despite therecommendation in the RAMSI Review Report 2004 that RAMSI'should provide a standby 100 military personnel inHoniara.

Sarah Dyer, from the Solomon Island s NationalWomen s Council and a candidate in April s election, saysshe and others have told RAMSI repeatedly that they need 'totalk to the people. A member of the Intervention TaskForce, a bipartisan body established to monitor RAMSI sperformance and activities, Dyer believes that RAMSI reliestoo heavily on official sources such as herself, rather thanreally being in touch with the population.

Sarah Dyer, from theSolomon Islands Council of Women, is critical ofRAMSI

She says her and others have raisedthe issue repeatedly, particularly during the review processthat took place after RAMSI s first year. Dyer believesRAMSI missed several signs prior to the riots that they mayhave picked up on had they formed stronger lines ofcommunication with the general populace.

Equally relevantis the fact that throughout the community, there is muchdislike of the Australians stationed here. Many feel thatthey are arrogant, somewhat heavy-handed and don tunderstand them. The New Zealanders and other PacificIslanders working for RAMSI are considered to have a fargreater affinity with the population. One taxi driver toldme that the New Zealanders 'are more like us.

A failureto adequately understand the people is surely not helpful inbuilding relationships and gaining the trust of potentialintelligence sources. And it is most likely that it is theAustralians who are responsible for intelligence-gatheringin the Solomon Islands. Perhaps this responsibility wouldbe better placed in New Zealand s hands.

As the 2004review highlighted:

'RAMSI is a regional undertaking. It should strive, as much as possible, to tap experts andother personnel from all participating countries to have abalance in representation and participation. As it is now,the mission has more Australian experts andpersonnel.

Although the report was not referringspecifically to the domain of intelligence, the Honiarariots demonstrated that Australian dominance in this area isleading to some grave problems.

No matter how capablethe PPF and RAMSI in general are -- and the fact that therewere no deaths attests to the fact that this is the case -- intelligence is the weakest link. This seriously underminesthe effectiveness of RAMSI s entire operations.

TheSolomon Islands is a place where human intelligence isvital. Phone lines and electricity are scarce outsideHoniara. This is a place where people talk and gossipspreads rapidly. If the Australians are not up to the job,they should collaborate more with their partners inRAMSI.

ENDS
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