6 May 2004

RAMSI police find more graves in Guadalcanal

8:44 am on 6 May 2004

In Solomon Islands, police with the Regional Assistance mission in the Weathercoast of Guadalcanal are going on with their search for graves of people, who may have been killed during the ethnic crisis.

The police officer in charge of the Isuna police post in the remote region, Matthew Kilmeister, says already more graves have been identified.

Mr Kilmeister said because of the enormous task ahead, of locating graves and identifying the dead, they are liaising closely with the people.

"Just west of Chui Chui, we've approached the villagers, and they, they were all displaced in the hills, during the tensions, so they're not really, yeah, haven't really got their minds around, or, don't know the identities, of the people that actually committed the murders, and where their body may be located."

RAMSI police have already exhumed more than 10 graves, and identified another 20 in the area, which had been the stronghold of the Guadalcanal warlord, Harold Keke, for the last six years.