PNG warns Solomon Islands over rebel issue
PNG warns Solomon Islands over rebel issue
PORT MORESBY (Agencies): Papua New Guinea has warned the Solomon Islands it will send its troops in hot pursuit if its South Pacific neighbor continues to harbor secessionist rebels from conflict-torn Bougainville island.
"If they do, we will make it hell for them," Defense Minister Mathias Ijape said in a statement carried in newspapers here yesterday.
Ijape said Papua New Guinea had suffered because rebels had used the Solomon Islands to gain access to the island.
The rebel Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA) has been fighting government forces on Bougainville for nearly eight years, during which hundreds of islanders have died.
"All that Papua New Guinea is asking is for the Solomon Islands not to let their soil become a criminal hideout or haven," Ijape said.
"I am warning the Solomon Islands that if criminals cross the border to get refuge in Solomon Islands, the Papua New Guinea Defense Force (PNGDF) will cross the border in hot pursuit and deal with those criminals on Solomon Islands soil," Ijape added.
He said he had told the Solomon Islands this was acceptable by international law and anything less than full cooperation would be treated as a slap in Papua New Guinea's face.
"The Solomon Islands government has literally made the people of Papua New Guinea lose hundreds of human lives and 700 million kina (US$525 million) financially while their people continue to be spectators and enjoy the good life," Ijape said.
"The Solomon Islands continues to provide shelter for criminals who escape from Bougainville under the disguise of humanitarian reasons," he said.
Ijape said he expected in coming weeks there would be a massive exodus of BRA fighters from Bougainville, which lies near the Solomon Islands.
Papua New Guinea last week lifted an 18-month cease-fire on the island, 850 kilometers northeast of the Papua New Guinea mainland, after 11 troops were killed in renewed violence.
Relations between Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands have been strained in recent years by what Port Moresby sees as Honiara's sympathetic stance over Bougainville's secessionist movement.
Meanwhile, a threat by Ijape to authorize "hot pursuit" raids into Solomon Islands territory after Bougainville rebels has brought a cautious response from the Solomons.
Prime Minister Solomon Mamaloni issued a copy of a letter he wrote to PNG Prime Minister Sir Julius Chan expressing regret at PNG's decision to lift a ceasefire agreement with the Bougainville seccessionist rebels.
In his letter to Chan, Mamaloni urged dialog with the rebels rather than a return to confrontation and said the Solomon Islands was ready to help facilitate this.