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Solomon Militants Agree to Hand Back Control of Honiara
The Solomons Malaita Eagle Force (MEF) signed Thursday an agreement allowing police to enforce law and order on the streets of the capital city of Honiara.
The Australian Associated Press reported that they also agreed to return commandeered police vehicles to the central police station so that normal patrols could resume.
The majority of Solomons policemen are Malaitans and it was reported that many of the officers returning to duty were Malaitans who had joined the MEF's coup on June 5, while ethnic Guadalcanal police were still absent.
The MEF refused to surrender arms seized in a raid on the police armory until a new prime minister is elected to replace Bartholomew Ulufa'alu. Meanwhile, it rejected Ulufa'alu's proposal for the establishment of a committee of MPs to negotiate an arms surrender and peace talks within 14 days.
The MEF launched a military coup last week, detained the Prime Minister Ulufa'alu and took Honiara under its control.
Ulufa'alu resigned Tuesday to clear the way for a peaceful resolution. He complained Australia and New Zealand rebuffed his demand for military intervention.
Australia has offered the Navy's landing ship HMAS Manoora, moored off Honiara, as a possible venue for peace talks and moved it closer to shore Thursday.
The ethnic residents in Guadalcanal, the main island in the Solomons archipelago, are angry at Malaitan settlers accusing them of occupying land and top jobs. During the past 18 months, the Guadalcanal militia Isatabu Freedom Movement drove out thousands of Malaitans.
The MEF insists on financial compensation for their lost land and property.
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