Solomon Island people prepared to reconcile over ethnic conflict

(MAP: Solomon Islands/EZILON)The chairperson of the Solomon Islands Truth and Reconciliation Commission says people are definitely prepared to reconcile over ethnic tensions in which thousands were displaced & an unknown number killed during the nation's civil unrest between 1998 & 2003, which began when Guadalcanal militants forced many Malaitan settlers off the island.  The commission is modeled after the TRC of South Africa, which was chaired by then Archbishop Desmond Tutu who has taken an active role in the establishment of the TRC in the Solomon Islands.

(PHOTO: Honiara Harbor, Capitol of SI/Guadalcanal.com)The commission’s report, which began with its official investigative launch on April 29, 2009, at the Lawson Tama Stadium in Honiara, the capital; & began its 1st of 11 public hearings in March 2010 has been formally handed to the prime minister Gordon Darcy Lilo & will become public after it’s presented to parliament.  The commission’s chair Father Sam Aata says people "are prepared to make peace, as long as the process is handled with respect & the issues are properly addressed – by the government but also by the perpetrators.”  Ata says the government is legally bound to implement the report’s recommendations, without delay, which includes reparations.

(Video: Australian Broadcasting Corp, 2009 TRC SI Opens)

Members of the SI TRC Commission number 5, and include:  Reverend Sam Ata of Malaita Province, Solomon Islands (Chairman); George Kejoa of Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands; Caroline Laore of Western Province, Solomon Islands; Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi of Fiji; Sofia Macher, a human rights activist from Peru(Deputy Chair).  (Read More at Radio New Zealand)