The opposition had presented a motion to ourselves to Evincer Mr SoGavare, accusing the corruption and use of Chinese funds to support his government.
Le Monde with AFP
International peacekeeping forces were deployed in Honiara, the capital of Solomon Islands. Checkpoints had been established around Parliament, the streets of the city center had been closed. Manasseh Sogavar, the Solomone Prime Minister, however, comfortably rejected the attempt at the opposition to oust, obtaining thirty-two votes against fifteen, after a day of heated debates, Monday, December 6th.
“If I must be dismissed, it must be by the legal procedure, by the members of Parliament, and not by calls for the resignation launched by Taiwan agents,” said the leader near Beijing at a two-hour ignited parliamentary speech.
China and Taiwan have been fighting over the Pacific for decades, both parties using development assistance as bait. Solomonese opposition had presented a motion to oust Mr Sogavare, accusing the corruption and use of Chinese funds to support his government. He has “voluntarily compromised our sovereignty for his personal political profit,” said the Leader of the Opposition, Matthew Wale, to the legislators, while the debate on the motion started.
The Prime Minister refused the requests for resignation issued by the protesters, stating before the Parliament that leave his post in such circumstances would be to submit “to the dikes of hooligans and anarchy”. “We can not accept that violence is used to overthrow a democratically elected government,” he said.
The quarrels between the elected officials echoed the anger that has recently broke out in the streets and led to the arrival of hundreds of international peacekeeping forces.
Three days of riots in November
In November, a demonstration against Mr. Sogavare triggered three days of riots in the capital, during which at least three people were killed and the Chinese district of the ransacked city.
The order had been restored by the Australian peacekeeping forces, Fijian, Papua and New Zealand, which were distributed in the capital to make patrols with the local police, overwhelmed. The perspective of new violence has prompted the United States Consulate in Honiara to restrict its activities. Monday, the Central Bank of the Solomon Islands assessed the damage caused by the riots at 67 million US dollars, stating that 63 buildings of the capital were burned and looted.
The crisis was fueled by poverty, unemployment and rivalries in this nation of 700,000 inhabitants. It was exacerbated by Mr. Sogavar’s decision to increase Taiwan Solomon’s diplomatic allegiance to China in 2019.