Subject: 'austraLasia' # 360
SOLOMONS; DIARY OF A BELEAGUERED COUNTRY PRIEST!
Ambrose Periereira sdb
HONIARA: 20th June-- Friday 16th, I went to Visale. We left Honiara at 7.40 am. I had a number of passengers, three men and three women, each with their personal baggage. I was worried what we would have to face at the MEF roadblock west of Honiara. Much to my surprise and relief, we were waved through without any questioning. There was a softening in the air. The road to Visale, since it has not been used much in the past year, is deteriorating rapidly. There has been a lot of rain. If this wet weather continues, the road will soon be unusable.
In Visale, which is about 30km west of Honiara, there are very few signs of the crises we are experiencing. On the other hand, it is sad to see all the vandalized homes and property, the result of the cruel evictions carried out by the IFM in the May/June period in 1999. It came to my mind many times how blessed we are in the Solomon Islands. In spite of all the madness of all the destruction, the people will always have enough food and shelter in the rural areas. Perhaps it is because of this that they don't seem to regret the vandalism which has taken place.
I attended a workshop arranged for the village church committees of the Parish. The issue of the crisis was not even on the agenda for our morning sharing. I was there from 9 to 12 noon.
My fears, because of the rumours of Thursday 15th, that a retaliation had been planned for east of Honiara, were unfounded. There was no retaliation attack. Friday 16th was in fact a Public Holiday marking the Queen's birthday. Since the take-over of June 6th, it seems to have been one long public holiday ! All public offices seem lifeless. The major activity in Honiara has been people leaving for their home islands.
Yesterday's news was good. It seems that arms have been returned to the armoury. There was a suspicious theft of cars from the showrooms of one of the car sales places. Perhaps this was set up by the MEF in order to their holding on to arms, supposedly helping the police to keep law and order. I wonder where is the truth in all this.
A very positive move was made by an MEF leader on the roadblock west of Alligator Creek Bridge. He put down his arms and walked across the bridge to meet with Andrew Te, an important leader of the IFM militants on the east of the bridge. It seems they shared food together. The women for Peace Group went to meet and pray with the MEFmen on the west side of Alligator Creek. They shared food with them. It seems some women crossed the bridge and told the MEF men that they would come to visit them, perhaps on Sunday 18th. These are wonderful times of healing. With positive steps at all levels of this conflict, we will make progress. SICA (Fr Arkwright represented me) had a meeting with Mr Tony (I haven't got his surname as yet). He is an Australian lawyer who has worked with the various parties in the Bougainville conflict. He seems to be keen to work with SICA. I understand that the Commonwealth Secretariat advisor, Professor Adeadefuya, who has been here on and off for about a year seeking for a resolution, has offered Tony the use of the facilities he has at the Commonwealth Youth Secretariat in Honiara. These are positive steps towards setting up of the SICA PEACE OFFICE.
In the evening Ms. Josephine barnes, an Australian church worker with Auki Diocese, arrived here in Holy Cross. She has decided to accept the advice of the Australian High Commission to leave Solomon Islands. She noted that on Malaita there are already signs of food shortage in the stores. Rice is being sold from the trucks even before it reaches the retailers. The MEF are active in Auki and have set up roadblocks south of Auki. The purpose of these is not clear. Perhaps extortion is the main one. They may also be an attempt to limit the movement of those who are associated with what is called the Seagull Group. In Auki town the MEF drive round in stolen or commandeered vehicles. Late one evening they fired a few shots in Auki,
possibly as a show of power. Bishop Loft SM, Bishop of Auki, who is in Buma Parish at this time working with the Marriage Encounter Formation Team, reports them having to ration their food carefully. Perhaps this refers to imported food only.
Just before the 8pm news, four young men who had been held in the central prison on remand arrived at my house with a person I understood to be from the Prison Service. They had been released as a cost-saving exercise.
They were looking for a place to stay the night. I presume they joined the families using the Holy Cross Parish Hall as a place of shelter. I had to find money for them to buy some food. I wonder where this pattern of things will end. On Thursday last I had a family asking me to go bail for their boy on remand in custody in the central prison. On further questioning I discovered the boy was a murder suspect. All kinds of warning bells started to ring in my mind. What if the elatives of the dead person are angry because of his release ? Have any custom compensations been paid ? Is there any guarantee that the young man will be safe outside of prison ? I felt bad about saying that I was unprepared to be involved. I wonder what a donor agency would think if I reported $500 bail to release a murder suspect. There is always that haunting question in my mind: What would the good Lord do in such a situation ? The things we find ourselves in !
At around 8,30pm a shot rang out quite near Holy Cross. I have not heard any explanation of what was happening.
4.10 pm: I had a call this afternoon from Bishop Bernard O"Grady OP, Bishop of Gizo. He spoke of all being quiet there. The Bougainville intruders are still around. There is a strong feeling it would be better if they would leave Gizo. Bishop O'Grady was full of praise for the senior Solomon Islands Police Officer in Gizo. He seems to be keeping the situation calm. The stores in Gizo are running short of food. Josephine Barnes, faithful to Auki diocese to the last moment, tried to buy some prescription medicine for Bishop Loft. The pharmacist told her that the present stocks will last only for another two weeks. Around town this morning I noticed many Chinese stores closed. There seems to be a rush on rice and other store goods. I wanted to buy a gas stove, only to find a notice on the door of the gas supplier: "Shut until further notice." We are told that petrol is still available; stocks should hold out for another three to four weeks. So many expatriates have left the country, fewer and fewer cars are on the roads. The types of food which expatriates like to buy such as canned soups, vegetables, and some fruits may not sell so quickly. I stocked up a little today just in case.
It is a strange kind of feeling, so much wondering what lies ahead. A family with a son in boarding school in Australia came to see me with their problem: The father, a senior education officer, has been laid off work. They had three properties they could rent. One is rented by the Solomon Islands Government which is unable to pay its debts. The other two are in the 'no-go' area west of Honiara. Where will they get the money for their son's fourth term fees in Australia ? They have a bank draft for the third term fees, but no means of sending it to Brisbane. There must be so many families in the same situation. Even if we get peace, how can we reopen our Secondary schools if there are no salaries for our teachers and no boarding grants for our students ? These are the real scenarios which mid-July will present us with. Perhaps it is better just to take things day by day; the future is very bleak.
It seems that tomorrow Sunday 18th there is a flight due in from Papua New Guinea. If so that will be the first international commercial flight since June 6th. There should be some movement of mail, That depends on how many post office workers there are still at work.
MONDAY 19th JUNE 2000 7.55am
On Sunday 18th 2000, we had an international flight from Papua New Guinea, the first international commercial flight since June 5th. Josephine Barnes, Australian Volunteer Church worker from Auki Diocese, was sad to have to leave. There was also a chartered flight to evacuate Filipinos; around 40 of them left Honiara yesterday. 15 Papua New Guinea Nationals left on the same flight. After seeing Josephine Barnes off, I went to our seminary, Tenaru. At the first roadblock, the MEF seemed unwilling that I should go through. They said they felt it was insecure. When I reached the IFM roadblock east of Alligator Creek, the IFM let me through without any problems. In the seminary they were more hopeful. Through the hard work of Fr Jack Harris CM, electric power is on again. Fr Jack's practical approach keeps things going. They hope to reopen the seminary on 20 July 2000. Please God the situation will be more positive. In the afternoon a large number of women from Honiara went to visit and pray with the IFM at the Alligator Creek roadblock. They were well received. These peace efforts by the women are just one more step in the right direction.
This morning Monday 19th, after our 6.15 Mass, I learned that the MEF this morning released all the prisoners, about 90 in all, from the Honiara Prison. What effect this is going to have on the general situation it is hard to say. At least the problem of feeding the prisoners has been addressed. If they all go home to their home provinces it may not have a very negative effect. It is one more sign that the Government has collapsed. All public services are just folding up.
