A graphic and vivid official account of how the Solomon Islands plunged into civil war a decade ago has been leaked after the government there refused to release it saying they feared its contents would bring tragedy back to the nation. <\/p>\n
It contains horrific first hand accounts of the massacres staged by a now imprisoned warlord, Harold Keke. <\/p>\n
It reveals around 200 people died in the conflict largely on the main island of Guadalcanal and there were hundreds of cases of abduction and torture in the unrest between 1998 and 2003. <\/p>\n
The commission found that the great majority of victims were innocent civilians. <\/p>\n
It only ended when New Zealand, Australian and Pacific forces occupied the Solomon Islands to bring peace to its 550,000 people. <\/p>\n
The government created a Truth and Reconciliation Commission but Prime Minister Gordon Darcy Lilo refuses to release the final report so it has instead been leaked by one of its members, Bishop Terry Brown, a former Anglican Church of Melanesia head. <\/p>\n
In a statement Bishop Brown says threats have been made in connection with the report and he say the government claims its release will re-ignite ethnic tension. <\/p>\n
\"I do not believe this,\" he says, saying proper recognition of the victims needs to take place. <\/p>\n
Painful as the recollection may sometimes be it would help bring about the lasting justice, peace, reconciliation and unity that Solomon Islands so badly needs, he says. <\/p>\n
The conflict set the indigenous people of Guadalcanal, home to the capital Honiara, against the internal migrants from Malaita. <\/p>\n
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Solomon Islands tragedy revealed<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A graphic and vivid official account of how the Solomon Islands plunged into civil war a decade ago has been leaked after the government there refused to release it saying they feared its contents would bring tragedy back to the nation. It contains horrific first hand accounts of the massacres staged by a now imprisoned warlord, Harold Keke. Continue reading