Australia denies role in raiding Solomon PM's office

Australian Prime Minister John Howard said here on Monday that Australia is not to blame in the raid of the office of Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare last Friday.

He made the remarks just hours after leaders from four Melanesian countries in the South Pacific condemned the raid.

Leaders from Fiji, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea issued a statement after a meeting here, describing the action by the Australian-led police force on an assistance mission in the island country as "a serious violation of Solomon Islands territorial sovereignty and integrity."

Howard told reporters here that "the operation was carried out by the Solomon Islands' police force," denying the reports that Australian police officers were responsible for the raid.

The raid was made to search evidence of how a child sex suspect Julian Moti had made clandestine escape from his custody in Papua New Guinea to the Solomons. Australia is seeking the extradition of Moti, an Australian lawyer Sogavare wants to name as the Solomons' next attorney-general.

"A number of the police (in the Solomons) come from Australia, including the police commissioner (Shane Castles), but he's acting as the head of the Solomon Islands' police force," Howard said.

"He (Castles) is under contract with the Solomon government and he is taking instructions from the Solomons. He doesn't take any instructions from me or from any officials from Australia, so any suggestion this was an action in which Australia was involved in any way is totally wrong," he said.

"All of these actions are governed by Solomon Islands law, we don't have anything to do with that," he said.

Leaders from the 16 members of the Pacific Islands Forum are gathering here to attend their 37th summit.

Source: Xinhua