Wednesday 14th November.

26 days to go.

There has been no change on the political front. Each group are gathering support and announcing numbers on the news bulletins. The paper is adding to the heat too.

The letters today include accusations against the Governor General that he is just a mouthpiece for the PM. The letters are also suggesting that he will not recall Parliament and that he should pray for assistance.

Work for me is just spreadsheet after spreadsheet after….. you get the picture.

More on the Solomons.

There has been a lot of inter island rivalry resulting in fighting, but in 1976 they gained self rule and full independence was achieved in 1978. Governments did not generally improve things in the Islands. After the elections in 1997 the rise of “The Tensions” began. Dissatisfaction was voiced more vigorously and inter-Island rivalry mounted. The two main Islands Malaita and Guadalcanal fought each other, with each gaining the upper hand at times. This continued until 2003 when the then PM Sir Allan Kemakeza invited Australia and NZ to assist. RAMSI was a result of this invitation. Regional Assistance Mission Solomon Islands was formed with the inclusion of other Pacific countries such as Tonga, Fiji New Guinea and others first came to the Solomons as a peace keeping force. A combination of Army and Police came to stop the fighting and restore order. They went from village to village and the locals handed over their weapons. Things settled down and civilian members of RAMSI arrived to help the country get back on its feet.

All aspects of government were looked at, Finance, Development, Justice etc. Advisors were brought in with the intention of setting up workable solutions and to capacity build the locals to a level where all aspects of governance could be performed by the Solomon Islanders. Things remained on an even keel until April 2006, further outbreaks of trouble occurred after an election took place. The Islanders believed the newly elected Government, particularly the new PM, Snyder Rini was bought into power by Chinese business. The resultant riots, which were much less disruptive than the previous “Tensions” achieved what they set out to do, the Government fell and a new PM Manasseh Sogavare was put in place.

This precipitated the situation that we are in now, another group, unhappy with the performance of the Government is testing its strength.