SOLOMON ISLANDS - Domino Effect June 2000 24 mins
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Sea/boat |
Once a Pacific paradise that knew nothing but peace - the Solomons has descended to the brink of collapse.
| 00:10 |
PM |
SYNCH PM: T IF THE GOVT AND HIS FRIENDS FAIL TO SOLVE THIS PROBLEM YOU HAVE THE EVENTUAL BREAKUP OF THE COUNTRY POSSIBLY IN TO SIX SEPERATE NATIONS.
| 00:20 |
MILITANTS MONTAGE GUN CLOSEUPS OVER RAP?
| (UPSOT RAP) This is a clash over land and culture - a tribal conflict with modern weapons who's warriors mix magic with gangsta rap.
WE WANT OUR DEMANDS TO BE MET BY THE GOVT WE WANT THE GOVT TO PAY FOR OUR LANDS,COMPENSATION FOR OUR LANDS FOR OUR PROPERTIES AND OUR LIVES. | 00:46
00:56 |
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WHAT I'M MAKING WITH MY BOYS IS TO RISE UP GET AGGRESSIVE GO BACK TO TAKE UP ARMS GO BACK TO THE BATTLEFIELD A THE POINT WE ARE PREPARINGV FOR WAR. |
01:15 |
MAP TO REVEAL OVER WORDS GUADALCANAL AND MALAITA. CLD 50PERCENT SCREEN |
MAP: SOLOMON ISLANDS GUADALCANAL ISLAND HONIARA MALAITA ISLAND | 01:35 |
CLASSIC SOUTH SEAS WOMEN WASHING KIDS ON BEACH T11.40.58-51.58
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As a nation the Solomon Islands were thrown together as an afterthought of retreating British colonialism. Its hope lay in two main islands -Malaita- under-resourced yet overpopulated - and Guadalcanal with it's fertile land and the nation's capital.
But deep cultural differences for years ignored have today flared in to bloody conflict.
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| It looks like any pacific town but here in Honiara there's one big difference. Most of the people are from the the Island of Malaita and are trapped here by Guadalcanal militants who are manning checkpoints around the city and vow to kill any Malaitans who venture out. The capital of the Solomon Islands has itself become an island in a sea of ethnic hatred.
Honiara suburbs are small villages of Malaitan squatters. Refugees in their own country. Vulnerable to attack from the tightening noose of Guadalcanal militancy. | 02:10 |
EVAN DRIVING OUT TO CHECKPOINT MILITANTS MAN CHECKPOINT T6.38.11-43.48 |
(BRIEF UPSOT EV TRAVELLING)
Travelling here to the city's outskirts would be suicide for a Malaitan - this is the frontline of Guadalcanal militancy . | 02:45 |
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SYNCH EV AND MILITANT:
Hello.
WHAT IS YOUR PURPOSE FOR COMING.
We're here for Guadalcanal meeting. | 03:00 |
GEORGE TALKING WITH EVAN CUTAWAYS OF MILITANTS WITH GUNS T6.52.49 |
One of the militant leaders - George Grey has been expecting me - but we need the broader approval of his men to pass. | 03:10 |
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YOU HAVE TO SEE THE BOYS IF THE BOYS AGREE THEN YOU CAN PROCEED OTHERWISE YOU WILL HAVE TO TURN BACK HERE -
Ok - I understand. | 03:18 |
MILITANT CLOSE-UPS CHECKPOINT CARS STOPPED: T6.51.27
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They call themselves the Isatambu Freedom Movement - Isatambu -meaning sacred place - is their word for the island of Guadalcanal.
Their preferred weapons are homemade guns that take powerful 50-calibre bullets left behind in World War Two ammunition dumps across the island.
But they have others. | 03:25 |
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SYNCH GEORGE SOME MODERN MILITARY WEAPONS LIKE M16S AND SLRS
These look like World War 2.
THAT'S A PUMP ACTION SHOTGUN. | 03:50 |
BURNT-OUT HOUSES/IFM GRAFFITTI ETC T11.53.17 **MAKE SURE USE GRAFITTI |
It's with these weapons the IFM cleansed their countryside of Malaitans - people they accused of stealing their land.
Even those Malaitans who'd paid for the land - were not spared the reassertion of tribal ownership.
| 04:00 |
| SYNCH GEORGE AS A GDCL MAN THE LAND IS STILL MINE WHETHER YOU ACQUIRED THE LAND LEGALLY FROM ME OR NOT THE LAND IS STILL MINE SO WHENEVER I WANT TO CHASE YOU OUT FROM THE LAND I HAVE ALL THE RIGHT.
| 04:15 |
UPSOT CHURCH T2.5.31 ARCHBISHOP COMMON - BODY OF CHRIST | UPSOT T2.5.31 BODY OF CHRIST)
For more than thirty years Archbishop Adrian Smith has watched the tension grow. | 04:30 |
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T/T OVER CHURCH THEN SYNCH ARCHBISHOP: THERE'S BEEN A LONG BUILD-UP OF RESENTMENT AMONGST GUADALCANAL PEOPLE BECAUSE OF THE LARGE NUMBER OF MALAITA PEOPLE WHO HAVE MIGRATED HERE TO FIND WORK. MALAITA IS LESS FERTILE AND TO FEED YOUR FAMILY YOU HAVE TO WORK HARDER THAN UPI DO ON GDCL AND THEY BROUGHT THAT KIND OF CHARACTERISTIC WITH THEM AND SO THEY MOVED HERE AND WERE AGGRESSIVE IN GETTING THINGS MOVING |
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WW2 ARCHIVE **SEE ASHLEY |
(UPSOT WW2 ARCHIVE - AIRCRAFT)
It's a clash with roots in the carnage of World War Two.
Malaitans first came to Guadalcanal to help the Americans build Henderson Airfield, the reason for the site of today's national capital Honiara. Most of them stayed.
But the war left another deadly legacy - hundreds possibly thousands of arms and ammunition dumps across the islands now being used by the militants on both sides to fight today's war. |
05:20 |
MALAITAN EAGLES |
(UPSOT RAP? OR OMINOUS MUSIC)
In Honiara the Malaitans are digging in and fighting back.
(LET BREATH WITH MUSIC)
This is the Malaitan Eagle Force - like the Guadalcanal militants - until this week they've been outlawed - so cover their faces to avoid arrest.
They've armed not just to defend themselves - but to win what in Malaitan culture is demanded - payback and compensation for Guadalcanal land the Malaitans were forced off.
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05:58
06:15 |
| SYNCH EAGLE LEADER: BUT IT'S THE MONEY WE NEED TO BEGIN OUR LIVES BECAUSE ACTUALLY THE WHOLE THING THROUGHOUT THIS TENSION IS OUR LIVES HAVE BEEN FUCKING RIPPED OFF AND WE WANT A TOTAL GUARANTEE THE GOVT GUARANTEE US COMPENSATION FOR WHAT WE NEED LIKE OUR PROPERTIES AND SO FORTH.
Their bill - 170-million Solomon Island dollars - an impossible sum for the government of an impoverished pacific nation.
It's a sum made all that much harder when the tension has brought the economy to its knees.
| 06:30 |
SILP PLANTATION AT STANDSTILL - HOUSES EMPTIED - TRACKING SHOT | (BIT OF SPOOKY OR SAD MUSIC)
Once employing 2000 Malaitans this palm oil plantation used to produce a fifth of the nation's GDP.
Militants chased them off, closing it down until they get the jobs themselves. | 07:07 |
IFM MEETING take most active play grabs |
(MAN JUMPS OVER FENCE - brief upsot from play)
It's two days before a major round of peace talks and IFM militants are a different theatre of war to remind a government minister why they took up arms.
(BRIEF UPSOT PLAY)
Guadalcanalese insist a Malaitan who bought land here would be followed by waves of relatives who then took land that wasn't theirs, abused local customs, threatened and at times killed them.
| 05:50 |
WOMEN POINTING TO GOLD RIDGE |
High above Honiara - the Australian-owned Gold Ridge gold mine is now the only major foreign investment in the Solomons
Its operation is totally at the mercy of the Guadalcanal militants - who so far accept its deal with local landowners - but have insisted all Malaitans leave their jobs here.
It's the kind of long-term demand that angers the eagles - and chances undermines long-term peace. | 07:30 |
SYNCH EAGLE COMMANDER:
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THEY HAVE BEEN KILLING INNOCENT CIVILIANS FOR EXAMPLE AND WE'VE BEEN GIVING THEM A CHANCE TO STEP IN BUT THE GOVT WON'T DO IT SO ACTUALLY.
If the compensation doesn't come is it going to get worse.
FOR SURE IT WOULD HAVE TO GO TO THE FINAL STAGE WHEN WE WOULD SURELY HAVE TO GO TO THE END.
It all started because of the land. The land is your mother it is your life. This is where we were given birth, this is where we live and this is where we will die.
Andrew T comes from the other side of island an unforgiving strip of land know as the Weather Coast. Largely undeveloped and untouched by the modern world its from there that the cult of Gudalcanal nationalism first arose. It's a cult whose foot -soldiers were bark armor and believe specially blessed sticks protect them.
| 08:00 |
| THE MALAITANS COME THEY DO NOT RESPECT OUR LAND. THEY DO NOT RESPECT EVERYTHING THAT IS CREATED NADP UT IN THIS LAND. THAT IS THE MAIN CAUSE OF THE PROBLEM.
| 09:10 |
| It was the frustration of the Weather Coast who came and started driving these Malaitan people out and then the people on this side of the island became part of the movement, the militancy, the young people and there are so many young people with nothing to do so as school dropouts standar six, now has a home made gun and is able to go up to your house at 12 0' clock at night and say clear out. He suddenly has a new sense of power.
Its very Dangerous.
Yes Very Dangerous. | 09:27 |
SETH KELLY ADDRESSES MEETING |
For Guadalcanal politicians like Sethuel Kelly it comes down to a tribal right to say who does what on their island.
SYNCH SETHUEL KELLY: WE WANT SOME KIND OF AUTONOMY GIVEN TO THE PROVINCES SO PEOPLE CAN MAKE THEIR OWN LAWS.
A key demand for Guadalcanal to control immigration has - he says - been ignored by successive governments since independence.
| 10:00 |
| SYNCH KELLY IT'S A QUESTION OF PROTECTION OF OUR PEOPLE WE NEED GOVT LEGISLATION WE CANNOT DO THAT WITH THE PRESENT SYSTEM UNLESS WE AMEND THE LAW TO GIVE POWER TO OUR PEOPLE TO DECIDE THEIR DESTINY. | 10:26 |
JD'S MILITANT PATROL |
(JD LEADS MILITANT PRAYER)
But while politicians talk - the militants are making their own decisions.
Dressing in traditional kabilatu as a mark of identity and spiritual protection, Guadalcanal militants tighten their net around Honiara.
And Westside commander JD won't rule out going further if their demands aren't met
| 10:40 |
| SYNCH JD - THIS HONIARA IS JUST LIKE A BIRD IN THE MIDDLE OF OUR HAND I MEAN WE JUST CARRY IT IF OUR QUESTIONS TO THE GOVERNMENT ARE NOT WELL ANSWERED IT'S EASILY FOR US TO CLOSE OUR HANDS WITH THE TOWN INSIDE BECAUSE THE WHOLE ISLAND IS SURROUNDING WATCHING WHAT THE GOVT IS DOING, AND IF NOTHING IS HAPPENING THEN WE JUST CLEAN UP HONIARA I MEAN WE HAVE THE POWER TO CLOSE THE WATER WE HAVE THE POWER TO CLOSE THE ELECTRICITY AND THAT'S THE TIME WHEN WE TRY TO CHASE OUT THESE MALAITANS | 11:05 |
MORE EAGLES TRAINING |
What they don't have in land - the Malaitan eagles make up for with better weapons than their Guadalcanal enemies, military-style training and powerful connections.
| 11:45 |
T/T THEN SYNCH NORI | SYNCH ANDRW NORI THERE ARE HIGH LEVEL MALAITANS IN HONIARA IN BOTH THE COMMERCIAL AND GOVT SECTORS WHO ARE HIGHLY SYMPATHETIC TOWARDS THE EAGLE FORCE MEMBERS AND WHO MAY BE COLLUDING WITH THEM IN AN ORGANISED AND HIDDEN FORM | 11:54 |
NORI ADDRESSES EAGLE LEADERS |
(BRIEF UPSOT NORI IN BUSH)
Malaitan Lawyer Andrew Nori is the conduit for Eagle Force statements.
A former MP who won't rule out running in next year's elections - today he's trying to convince the Eagles to attend peace talks on the neutral Isabel island.
(BRIEF UPSOT NORI)
But fearing arrest under a decree banning them and their enemies as illegal societies - they refuse.
(BRIEF UPSOT EAGLE - FOR SURE WE'RE NOT ATTENDING)
And it's a measure of their growing power the Eagles scuttle the talks by threatening any Malaitan who attends without them - none did .
Within days - militant politics forces the prime minister to lift the ban so both groups can at least talk - but he rejects demands for a blanket amnesty.
| 12:15 |
SYNCH PRIME MINISTER | SYNCH BART: WELL THEY BROKE LAW YOU SEE IF WE PARDON ALL OF THEM LIKE SOME OF THE CRITICS ARE SAYING YOU ARE SETTING A VERY DANGEROUS LEGAL PRECEDENT FOR THE FUTURE. THE NEXT PLACE TO RISE WOULD BE WESTERN PROVINCE BECAUSE THERE ARE MORE MALAITANS THERE | 13:15 |
COPS PATROL - LOADING WEAPONS |
With no army it's the police who are meant to be keeping the peace between the two warring armies.
But with just a few hundred active officers it's an impossible, dangerous job.
| 13:40 |
SYNCH COP FROM MINIDV | SYNCH COP: WE DON'T FEEL VERY SECURE UNLESS WE HAD GOOD TRAINING WITH GOOD WEAPONS THAT WOULD SECURE US BUT OTHERWISE WE DON'T HAVE MUCH | 13:55 |
COPS - THEN ON TO CHECKPOINT |
And there's a much deeper problem with the police .
In today's Solomons it's not the police badge that comes first - but where you come from - and the police are divided.
Malaitan police are accused of aiding and arming their relatives in the Malaitan Eagles...Guadalcanal police accused of helping the IFM.
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14:05 |
EVAN TO RABUKA: T17 | Even the man charged by the Commonwealth with brokering peace - Fijian strongman Major-General Sitiveni Rabuka - admits ethnic allegiances override police impartiality.
SYNCH RABUKA They'll be limited because of the strong cultural ties that they have on both sides if we had a police force that is so professional that it doesn't have those cultural and traditional sensitivities then we would have no problem. Unfortunately the police force is a reflection of society
| 14:35 |
SYNCH NORI | SYNCH NORI: IN A SITUATION WHERE LAW AND ORDER CAN NO LONGER BE UPHELD WHERE THERE'S A BREAKDOWN IN POLICE NETWORKING IN THE POLICE FIRE POWER THE SITUATION WILL GIVE RISE TO CRIMINAL ELEMENTS AND THE TWO MILITANT GROUPS TAKING CONTROL OF THEIR VARIOUS SECTORS, AND IN THE END WE WILL HAVE A MAJOR CONFRONTATION BETWEEN THE TWO MILITANT ORGANISATIONS SUPPORTED BY THEIR OWN SUPPORTERS SO A CIVIL WAR IS NOT A REMOTE POSSIBILITY - IT IS IN FACT A PROBABILITY. | 15:15 |
TRUCKLOAD OF IFM MILITANTS |
(UPSOT IFM YABBERYABBER)
It's the day of the Isabel Island peace talks - but just outside Honaira there's little peace to discuss.
Malaitan Eagles have just shot up this village...it's a provocative action with a political message - no Eagles no talks
In response - two hundred Guadalcanal militants have moved their checkpoint to within a few minutes of the city
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16:00 |
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While we're here the militants see a truck, if it's driver had been Malaitan he would have been killed on the spot.
(UPSOT MILITANT - NO PICTURE NO PICTURE)
The IFM agrees that many of it's demands are being addressed through a constitutional review - but say they're now defending themselves against Malaitan Eagle attack.
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16:40 |
EXTERIORS - PMS OFFICE
THEN EVAN AND PM INSIDE |
While people are dying - back in his office the prime minister blames the renewed violence on a political conspiracy to bring him down.
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17:00 |
| SYNCH BART: Who's behind the politics of this and why
THOSE WHO WOULD LIKE TO BE IN POWER FOR THEIR OWN REASONS THEY WOULD LIKE TO SEE THIS ETHNIC TENSION DRIVING TO THE NEXT GOVT ELECTION
SYNCH NORI: THOSE KINDS OF ALLEGATIONS ADD INSULT TO INJURY FOR MALAITANS ESPECIALLY THEIR DEMANDS IS PURELY PROPERTY DEMANDS. DEMANDS FOR JUSTICE DEMANDS FOR THE RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF THEIR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO REMAIN ON GDLC WHERE THEY HAVE ACQUIRED PROPERTY.
| 17:12
17:37 |
GDCL MILITANTS IN TRADITIONAL GEAR
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In the meantime peace or war is in the hands of the men with the guns.
With the ban lifted - this week they may agree to a temporary ceasefire - but they won't disarm.
| 18:00 |
| SYNCH ANDREW TE'E: MEET THE DEMANDS FIRST THEN ALL THE SURRENDERING OF ARMS WE'LL JUST DO IT OURSELVES.
How important is an amnesty?
AT THE MOMENT WE SEE AMNESTY ITS GOOD BUT IT NEEDS SOME KIND OF GOOD INVESTIGATION INSIDE BECAUSE FOR US PERSONALLY BELIEVE THAT THE EAGLE FORCE WERE FORMED BY OR HELPED BY SOME POLICE OFFICERS SO WE WANT THE GOVT TO DO SOMETHING.
| 18:10 |
MUST HAVE GUY WALKING TO GRAVE AS OPENING
MINI-DV FOLLOWING MAN THRU VILLAGE
USE OTHER STILL THE ONE THAT FLARES C/U
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UPSOT MAN: THIS IS THE GRAVE OF MY BROTHER DAVIDSON
| 18:56 |
PRAYERS OVER GRAVE
STILL OF DAVIDSON
END | (BRIEF UPSOT PRAYER AT GRAVE)
Mourned by his village, Davidson Maru died a horrifyingly symbolic death simply because he was from Guadalcanal.
SYNCH : SO HE WAS STOLEN AND STABBED AND THEN THEY CHOPPED HIS HEAD OFF.
Abducted from outside a nightclub - he was decapitated - his headless body dumped in Honiara's main market.
(BRIEF UPSOT PRAYER)
Davidson was the first to die here in this way in more than a century - but as both sides dig in for difficult demands on a backdrop of revenge killings and a new election - he probably won't be the last.
| 18:57 19:00
19:56 |