Publicité
Australian troops arrive in troubled Solomons
Par
Partager cet article
Australian troops arrive in troubled Solomons
Elite Australian troops arrived in the troubled Solomon Islands yesterday as the body of an Australian peacekeeper, the first casualty of Canberra’s tough South Pacific security policy, arrived home. About 100 armed rapid-response troops were sent to the Solomons capital Honiara as security was stepped up after the death of policeman Adam Dunning, who was shot twice in the back in a suspected ambush on his security patrol early on Wednesday. Dunning’s body was flown to his hometown of Canberra in a coffin draped with an Australian flag. It touched down late yesterday to be met by family and friends and was carried from the plane by his Australian Federal Police colleagues.
Solomon Islands Prime Minister Allan Kemakeza attended a memorial service for Dunning in Honiara earlier yesterday. Dunning, 26, was the first Australian peacekeeper to be killed by direct enemy attack since the time of the Vietnam War, although three have died since 1974 after their vehicles hit landmines in Cyprus, Lebanon and most recently in Afghanistan. He was among the 300 Australian police, military and government advisers serving in the Regional Assistance Mission for the Solomon Islands (RAMSI), deployed in mid-2003 to restore law and order to the troubled island nation.
Australia introduced a tough, interventionist policy in the South Pacific following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States, offering help with security to ensure stability of island nations that Canberra says could offer a haven for terror groups. In 2003, violence erupted around Honiara between gangs from the main island of Guadalcanal and the neighbouring island of Malaita over land claims around the capital. Hundreds of people were killed in the fighting and thousands fled Honiara.
<B>James Grubel</B>
Publicité
Publicité
Les plus récents
