PEACE ADVOCATE SAYS SOLOMONS STILL FRAGILE

A peace advocate in Malaita Province claims Solomon Islands has not achieved peace and still remains a fragile state.

James Kiriau is a former school teacher and currently works as a peace advocate in communities within Malaita province.

Mr Kiriau says Solomon Islands remains fragile because crime is common and people are still not able to move about freely.

“…because I have observed that people are still committing murder and other tribal roars still happening. Another thing is that people from different provinces, for instance people from Guadalcanal going to work on Malaita and vice versa, especially on remote parts of both provinces and that’s why I think we still need peace.”

The peace advocate also says money has been spent unwisely when overseas Commissioners and Bishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa were brought in for the Solomon Islands Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

“Look at Bishop Desmond Tutu’s visit to the Solomon Islands in terms of peace, it’s okay, but the situation in South Africa is different from that in the Solomon Islands. South Africa has the apartheid, whites against blacks. In our case it’s an ethnic conflict which is on a very small scale to be compared with South Africa, so it’s a good attempt bring the Bishop here but then it doesn’t match our situation.”