12 Jan 2015

Solomons government to table TRC report

1:26 pm on 12 January 2015

The new Solomon Islands government says it will table in Parliament the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Report.

Manasseh Sogavare

Manasseh Sogavare Photo: RNZI Koroi Hawkins

The report by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was finalised in 2012 following consultations with those on all sides of the ethnic conflict and contains recommendations on how Solomon Islands can heal from the trauma of what happened between the late 1990s and 2003.

After the previous government refused to release it, the report's editor leaked it online two years ago.

The new government has given no date for its official release but promised to table it during its four-year term in office.

The Prime Minister, Manasseh Sogavare, says as issues relating to the conflicts will continue to surface, it is his government's intention to table the report.

He says for the government to settle all the outstanding issues of the ethnic crisis, it would need six budgetary allocations of its annual budget to finance them.

Meanwhile, the MP for North Malaita, Jimmy Lusibaea, who is a former commander of the now defunct Malaita Eagle Force, says the government must address the outstanding issues of the five-year armed conflict between the people of Guadalcanal and Malaita provinces.

Get the RNZ app

for ad-free news and current affairs