Australia ‘sucking up’ to Sogavare with semiautomatic guns, says worried Solomons opposition

Australia has handed Solomon Islands police an arsenal of new weapons and vehicles, prompting concerns they may be used to suppress political dissent.

In a gifting ceremony held in Honiara on November 2, the Australian Federal Police, through the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force and AFP Policing Partnership Program, handed over 13 vehicles and 60 Daniels Defence MK18 rifles. Picture: Australian Federal Police

Australia has handed the Solomon Islands’ police an arsenal of 60 new semiautomatic rifles and 13 new vehicles, prompting concerns by the country's opposition the weapons could be used to suppress political dissent.

The $1.3m gift was presented to the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force this week amid ongoing Australian government concerns over the country’s Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare’s security partnership with China.

The MK18 rifles would provide the Solomon Islands police “with enhanced capabilities to counter criminal threats and maintain peace and stability”, Australian Federal Police Acting Commander Clinton Smith said.

Solomon Islands’ Opposition Leader Matthew Wale said Australia was not responding to a genuine need of the country’s police force, but trying to “out-compete China in sucking up to would-be strong man Sogavare”.

“Australia is in a race (with China) to show Sogavare who is more willing to protect him personally from accountability to his own people,” Mr Wale said.

“That's the only perceived threat for Sogavare. So I am extremely concerned.”

Mr Sogavare said the country had no enemies, but “it is the sworn duty of the government of the day to ensure the protection of liberty, life, well being and property” of its citizens.

“Law and order is an enabler to development and it is important as a sovereign state we are able to better protect ourselves, deliver on our security mandates and confront threat when it comes,” he said.

The AFP has delivered specialist training and donated vehicles and weapons with a combined investment of over $1.3 million to the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force (RSIPF), which is continuing to strengthen its operational capability in the lead up to and beyond the Pacific Games 2023.

Acting Commander Smith, who heads the AFP’s regional policing partnership in Solomon Islands, said four of the vehicles would be used to establish a “mobile protection unit” to respond to “security threats and incidents to critical infrastructure”.

The most recent such threat was the November 2021 riots in Honiara, in which violent protesters – predominantly from residents of Malaita Province who opposed Mr Sogavare’s rule – burned down public buildings and Chinese-owned businesses.

By March the following year, Mr Sogavare had signed his controversial security pact with Beijing.

Australia has been determined to reassert its role as Solomon Islands’ main security partner ever since.

Former senior Defence official Michael Shoebridge warned Solomon Islands’ police, who have previously received weapons training from China, could potentially “use or direct the use of these weapons against Solomon Islanders”.

“Why celebrate giving the Solomons’ police this kind of weaponry? Smells of the ‘drug dealer defence’ of ‘If I don’t give it to them, someone else will’,” Mr Shoebridge said.

Acting Commander Smith said the donation reflected the AFP’s “deep friendship” with the RSIPF.

“The AFP is proud to be the Solomon Islands’ security partner of choice and will continue to work closely with RSIPF officers to ensure they are trained and equipped to provide the Solomon Islands community with an efficient, modern police force,” he said.

The gifted Toyotas.

He said the provision of the weapons was part of a “limited rearmament” of the country’s police that commenced in 2013 under the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Island, during which thousands of weapons were surrendered by former militants.

Many of the weapons handed in during RAMSI were originally stolen from police armouries.

The short-barrelled MK18, purchased from US firm Daniel Defence, is a lighter and more manoeuvrable version of the AR15 rifle, used by law enforcement and by special forces soldiers in its fully automatic configuration.

The provision of the weapons follows an official visit by Mr Sogavare to Australia last month, when he assured Anthony Albanese he would “not do anything that will undermine our national security”, or jeopardise the security of the Pacific Island region.

“Prime Minister, I reiterate again that Solomon Islands will never be used for foreign military installations or institutions of foreign countries because this will not be in the interest of Solomon Island and its people,” he said.

Months earlier, Mr Sogavare had accused critics of his security agreement with China of treating his country like ““kindergarten students walking around with Colt .45s in our hands”.

Under the security deal, Solomon Islands can “request China to send police, armed police, military personnel and other law enforcement and armed forces to Solomon ­Islands”.

The agreement says China “may, according to its own needs and with the consent of the Solomon Islands, make ship visits to carry out logistical replenishment in, and have stopover and transition in, Solomon Islands”.