21 Sep 2007

Report says plan was behind 2006 Solomons riot

5:13 pm on 21 September 2007

A report in Solomon Islands says certain politicians planned last year's riots in Honiara which destroyed much of the Chinatown area and forced hundreds of Chinese to flee.

A commission of inquiry, which was chaired by a former Papua New Guinea National Court judge Brian Brunton, released an interim report but did not name the individuals or political groups involved.

It said a number of leading politicians, political groups and organisations were involved in executing a preconceived plan for a regime change following Snyder Rini's election as prime minister.

The commission has also found that the Solomons government could be liable for damages of 20 million US dollars for the loss of businesses destroyed during the riots.

In an earlier interim report in July, the inquiry found there had been failures by Australian police commanders leading up to the riots which also left dozens of Australians police injured.