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UN: SOLOMON
ISLANDS URGES GREATER UN INVOLVEMENT IN REGIONAL PEACE OPERATIONS:
01/10/2007 (MaximsNews Network)
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UNITED NATIONS - / MaximsNews Network /
- 01 October 2007
– The United Nations needs to become
more involved in the management of regional peacekeeping operations in trouble
spots or the lead countries in those missions will inevitably use them for the
benefit of their own economic interests, the Solomon Islands’ Foreign Minister
told the General Assembly today.
Patteson
Oti said his Government has begun a parliamentary review of the legislative
basis for the continuing presence in his country of the Regional Assistance
Mission to the Solomon
Islands (RAMSI), which was deployed in 2003 to try to quell violent
unrest after years of simmering ethnic tensions.
RAMSI
comprises police, military and civilian personnel from Australia, New Zealand
and 13 Pacific island nations.
While
the visiting forces deserve credit for restoring law and order, Mr. Oti said,
the underlying social and cultural causes of tensions in the Solomon Islands
have not been addressed.
“Moreover,
those who pay the piper call the tune… Howsoever dressed and rationalized,
intervention and occupation allow ‘assisting’ nations to spend and earn
substantial revenue for their supporting businesses and industries,” he said.
“Mine
is too nationalistic a Government to become captive to the fortunes which
justify our perpetual retention under siege. My Prime Minister, fellow
Government ministers and parliamentarians, as well as our Attorney-General,
remained unmoved by Australian resistance to our attempts to reclaim our
sovereignty and independence.”
Mr. Oti
said the Solomon Islands’ experience with “the Australian-designed
‘cooperative intervention’ package demonstrates the need for greater UN
involvement in the leadership of future regional peacekeeping operations.”
Noting
his multiple-entry visitor visa to Australia was cancelled suddenly last year on
the grounds that he was “a risk to the health, safety and good order of the
Australian community,” the Foreign Minister said it was an illustration of
“international anxiety, insecurity and paranoia” about the threat of
terrorism.
“One
would have to admit that is an incredible justification for excluding
democratically elected leaders of neighbouring countries unknown for breeding
terrorists,” he said.
Labels: United
Nations, U.N.,
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