Government News: Top Stories

New Zealand troops arrive in Tonga
by Pesi Fonua

The Associated Press Translate This Article
19 November 2006

NUKU'ALOFA, Tonga (AP) - Soldiers and police from New Zealand arrived in the Tongan capital Saturday to help restore order after mobs demanding democratic reforms destroyed much of the capital in unprecedented rioting that left at least eight people dead.

A contingent of 60 troops and 10 police flew in from New Zealand to secure the nation's only international airport after foreign carriers refused to use it because of its lack of security, said Tongan Defense Services spokesman Maj. Veehala.

The police will help guard New Zealand's High Commission in Nuku'alofa, one of the buildings that escaped damage during Thursday's riot in the tiny and impoverished South Pacific kingdom.

Another 50 troops and 35 police from Australia were due to arrive later Saturday. The troops will secure vital infrastructure, including power stations, broadcasting systems and key government buildings.

Thursday's rampage by angry youths, who overturned cars, attacked government officials and looted shops and offices before setting them ablaze, was unprecedented in the kingdom. Officials said about 80 percent of the capital's business district was destroyed.

The trigger for the violence was anger that parliament might finish its session for the year without settling plans to give elected lawmakers a majority in parliament over royally appointed legislators.

Six bodies were found in the burned-out offices of a power company. They were believed to be looters or rioters because the company's staff was accounted for, said Tonga's Lord Chamberlain, Hon. Fielakepa, who acts as spokesman for the king, and like many Tongan nobles uses just one name.

Government officials later confirmed two more bodies were discovered Friday in a second burned building.

Two Chinese shops were torched in attacks overnight, Police Commander Sinilau Kolokihakaufisi told The Associated Press Saturday. About 30 Chinese-owned stores and businesses were torched during Thursday's riot.

The Chinese ambassador to Tonga, Hu Yeshun, said his embassy had ``received over 150 people, whose houses or stores were destroyed by the mobs.''

Ethnic Chinese traders have a large chunk of the economy in Tonga's capital, and are sometimes resented by locals who perceive them as outsiders despite many families having been there for generations.

Thursday's violence appeared to target Chinese businesses but also government offices and businesses linked to government figures.

New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark and Australian counterpart John Howard announced the deployment plan at a joint news conference in Hanoi, Vietnam, where they are attending the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.

The request for troops came ``as a result of some serious rioting which has left 80 percent of the central business district of the capital destroyed,'' Howard said.

Lopeti Senituli, a spokesman for Prime Minister Fred Sevele, said foreign forces were ``an acknowledgment our security apparatus is ... short of manpower.''

Australia and New Zealand also supplied the bulk of a peacekeeping force sent to another Pacific island nation, the Solomon Islands, to quell unrest and rioting there in April.

Sevele on Friday declared most of Nuku'alofa off-limits, and the country's small army restricted movement around town, Senituli said.

``The priority is to secure peace so that people can feel secure in their own homes and neighborhoods,'' Senituli said. ``Most of the fires have died down but the damage has been widespread and major.''

King Saiosi Tupou V said ``every measure of the law will be followed to track down and prosecute the perpetrators and those who incited and agitated this mindless criminal destruction,'' said the statement issued by the Lord Chamberlain.

Tonga, halfway between Australia and Tahiti, has a population of about 108,000. Its economy depends on pumpkin and vanilla exports, fishing, foreign aid and remittances from Tongans abroad.

Copyright © 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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