Blog

Solomon Islands' Cabinet has agreed to ban Facebook, citing a need for stricter cybercrime legislation and regulation. Facebook logo Photo: Pixaby Communications minister Peter Shanel Agovaka confirmed the decision to Solomon Times Online, saying public misuse of the platform was the main concern. "Abusive languages against ministers, prime minister, character assasination, defamation of character - all these are issues of concerns," Agovaka said. The country was lacking legislation on internet usage and cybercrime, which was particularly worrying when it came to what children were accessing and being exposed to, he said. "The use of the internet now in Solomon Islands needs to be properly regulated to safeguard our young people from harmful content." It was not an attack on freedom of expression, pointing out that freedom of the press was still protected, he said. Agovaka also said the decision would not require Parliament's approval. "The government is still in discussion with the operators to work out how this can be done. The operators shall need to establish a firewall to block Facebook." However, Agovaka said the initial decision, made last week, did not take into consideration the economic impacts of the decision, which would be investigated fully before the ban was imposed. There are only four countries in the world where Facebook is banned around the clock - they are China, Iran, Syria and North Korea. However, North Korea's ban is indirect because it is a complete internet ban. 31 March 2019 - Peter Shanel Agovaka awaits his turn to speak at a political rally just days out from the election on 3 April. He was subsequently re-elected for a fourth term as MP for Central Guadalcanal. Photo: RNZ Pacific/ Koroi Hawkins

The US military expects President Donald Trump to order a further withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan and Iraq, according to defence officials quoted by US media. A US soldier at the Qayyarah air base in Iraq. The US military expects President Donald Trump to order a further withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan and Iraq. Photo: AFP Those in Afghanistan will be cut from about 5000 down to 2500 by mid-January, officials said. In Iraq they will be reduced from 3000 to 2500. Trump has previously said he wants "all" troops home by Christmas. He is refusing to concede the 3 November election to Joe Biden. The withdrawal should be finished by 15 January, US media reported, just days before Biden's inauguration as president. Trump's reported plan is facing rare criticism from a fellow Republican - Senate leader Mitch McConnell, who warned militants would "love" the idea. Speaking on the floor of the upper chamber on Monday, the Kentucky senator said: "We're playing a limited - limited - but important role in defending American national security and American interests against terrorists who would like nothing more than for the most powerful force for good in the world to simply pick up our ball and go home. "They would love that." Trump has long called for US troops to come home and has criticised US military interventions for being costly and ineffective. Military leaders were told at the weekend about the planned withdrawals, according to officials quoted by the Associated Press news agency. An executive order is being drawn up but has not yet been sent to commanders, they added. In September, the Pentagon announced it was to withdraw more than a third of its troops from Iraq within weeks - from about 5200 to 3000. At the time, top US Middle East commander Gen Kenneth McKenzie said those remaining would continue to advise and assist Iraqi security forces in "rooting out the final remnants" of the jihadist group Islamic State (IS). US-led forces invaded Iraq in 2003 to overthrow President Saddam Hussein, hunting for weapons of mass destruction that turned out not to be there. US forces have been in Afghanistan since 2001. A US-led coalition ousted the Taliban weeks after the 11 September 2001 attacks in the US by al-Qaeda, which was then based in Afghanistan. The Taliban regrouped and became an insurgent force that by 2018 was active in more than two-thirds of the country. The US started withdrawing troops from Afghanistan this year as part of a peace deal with the Taliban. Drawing back troops was a condition of a historic accord signed by the US and the militants on 29 February. However, military chiefs, including Gen McKenzie, have warned in the past that peace negotiations between the Taliban and Afghan authorities could be undermined by a hasty US withdrawal. - BBC

Just one new case of the coronavirus has been linked to the outbreak in South Australia overnight, Premier Steven Marshall says. Photo: 123RF Authorities are scrambling to contact trace and contain a Covid-19 cluster in Adelaide's northern suburbs, which prompted sweeping new restrictions across the state yesterday. The new diagnosis brings the number of confirmed and suspected infections associated with the Parafield cluster to 20. Marshall said it was a good result, with thousands of people tested since the cluster was discovered. "If we reflect on the last 24 hours, today there's just been the one new infection despite the fact that we have essentially done the contact tracing for the people that are infected," Marshall told ABC Radio Adelaide this morning. "[We have] put a lot of people, I'm talking hundreds and hundreds of people, in isolation, subjected them to a test, and at this stage, just one new infection," he said. The Premier urged anyone with even the mildest symptoms to get tested, and flagged a further update on case numbers this afternoon. "Thousands of people were tested yesterday ... I'm very grateful for that," he said. "They do not want a second wave here and they're prepared to do whatever it takes. "Data is absolute king during these outbreaks [and] time is of the essence." Restrictions may extend beyond initial fortnight SA Chief Public Health Officer Nicola Spurrier said the new coronavirus restrictions - which include limits on gatherings in homes and licensed venues and a temporary ban on community sport - may continue beyond the initial two-week period if it becomes clear there has been major community transmission. She said a "large number" of people were in quarantine or isolation across Adelaide. Professor Spurrier asked South Australians to limit their interactions with other people to help contain the outbreak. "I really want people to think about whether they need to go out and about for the next couple of days [and] for the next week," she said. "It's very important for people to reduce the amount of travel. "What we want people to do is monitor for symptoms ... even if it's just a sniffle. Don't go 'oh, it's hay fever' - go and get a test." SA Health has released a list of dozens of locations across Adelaide where people could have become infected. Authorities have urged people to get tested if they have developed symptoms after visiting those locations. Meanwhile, most Australian states and territories have instituted quarantine or self-isolation orders for people travelling from SA, or for those who arrived from the state within the past seven days. As of yesterday afternoon, Queensland, Victoria, Tasmania, the Northern Territory and Western Australia had announced specific measures for people arriving from SA. New South Wales and the ACT will keep their borders open. - ABC

Iota has exploded into a catastrophic Category 5 hurricane bearing down on remote Central American provinces, with the region's leaders blaming climate change for destruction pushing millions closer to hunger. The navy helped evacuate people to higher ground as Hurricane Iota approached. Photo: AFP Iota was due to smack into northeastern Nicaragua, packing maximum sustained winds of 260 km/h, having reached Category 5, the US National Hurricane Center said on Monday. Central America and southern Mexico are still reeling from Hurricane Eta, which devastated crops and washed away hillsides two weeks ago, killing dozens. Many towns are still partially flooded and the land is already waterlogged from the earlier storm. Governments from Panama to Guatemala rushed to move people away from hillsides, volcanoes and bodies of water, fearful Iota will bring similar destruction. The World Food Programme said millions of people urgently needed food aid in the wake of Eta. "What's drawing closer is a bomb," Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez told a news conference, speaking alongside Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei. The presidents described Central America as the region worst affected in the world by climate change and said tens of thousands of families had lost entire crops to Eta's destruction. Iota will leave Honduras and its neighbors in "a very difficult situation", Hernandez said. Houses destroyed by the passage of Hurricane Eta in Bilwi, Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua, on 15 November. Hurricane Iota was nearing the region as a category 5 storm. Photo: AFP Since records began being kept in 1851, this is the first time two major hurricanes have formed in the Atlantic basin in November. Iota is also the first Category 5 storm of the hurricane season. The Miskito region straddling Honduras and Nicaragua raced to get people to safety before a forecast direct hit from Iota, which was about 130km east- southeast of Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua, after whipping past the Colombian islands of San Andres and Providencia before dawn, cutting off electricity. The National Hurricane Center said Iota was forecast to weaken rapidly after reaching land. Local authorities and the navy frantically tried to get thousands of families to higher ground or ports in the watery region of jungles, rivers and coastline, which also took a direct hit from Eta. Images from Nicaragua's military showed soldiers helping people into boats in heaving seas and trucks on land. "There are villages that can protect or save themselves but others cannot cope with this catastrophe after Eta," said Teonela Wood, mayor of Honduras' Brus Laguna municipality, home to more than 17,000 people. "The biggest problem we have right now is we don't have fuel to keep on evacuating people" on boats, Wood said. Many of the people of Miskito are descendants of indigenous groups along with escaped African slaves and castaways believed to have survived a 17th-century slave shipwreck. The unprecedented 2020 hurricane season comes as Central America is facing an economic crisis linked to the coronavirus pandemic, with experts warning compounding hardship could worsen infections, spread hunger and fuel a new round of migration from the region. Iota is the fiercest November storm in the region since a 1932 Cuba hurricane that packed 281 km/h winds, according to private forecasting firm AccuWeather. - Reuters

The Flying Fijians rugby squad is isolating in separate hotel rooms after a string of positive tests for Covid-19 at their training base in France. The team's Autumn Nations Cup opener against Les Bleus was cancelled at the weekend after five players tested positive for the coronavirus. Fiji's Tests against Portugal and France have been cancelled because of Covid-19. Photo: Fiji Rugby Additional tests were carried out late last week after a player - understood to be centre Semi Radradra - returned a positive test last Tuesday. Pacific Rugby Players CEO Aayden Clarke said the Fiji team took all the necessary precautions. "What's happened inside the camp, although extremely unfortunate timing, is just a sample of what's happening in society at the moment," he said. "With this virus we really can't predict the pathway that it's taking. I know the protocols and the systems that the team tried to put in place were very much trying to avoid this but sometimes that just can't be done." Semi Radradra was reportedly among at least five Fiji players to test positive for Covid-19. Photo: Photosport The Fiji squad is currently self isolating in their hotel rooms at their tournament base in Saint-Galmier. Like their original training camp in Limoges, they won't be able to interact with each other until they return two negative Covid tests. Aayden Clarke said officials have not yet identified how the players contracted the virus. "Obviously a really challenging situation for the players that we've just been keeping tabs with in the camp, having to go back to individual isolation in rooms," he said. "[These are] extremely competitive athletes that are really preparing well for this test match and overcoming the disappointment that it's not going to happen. You've just got to have the right mindset and be able to adapt to it and that's exactly what the boys are doing." Pacific Rugby Players CEO Aayden Clarke. Photo: RNZ Pacific/Vinnie Wylie Fiji Rugby CEO John O'Connor said morale in the camp remained high but there was frustration the team was unable to kick off their Nations Cup campaign. "Our medical team with the support of the FFR medical team have started contact tracing and are monitoring the players. Further tests are planned for Monday and Wednesday, prior to the Italy match," he said in a statement released at the weekend. "Everyone, however, understands that the life, safety, and welfare of everyone involved is always paramount and the priority. With Covid-19 the 'new normal' the andemic has thrust upon us life is full of uncertainties and challenges which we have to deal with." A decision on whether Sunday morning's test against Italy in Ancona goes ahead will be made later this week, with medical and tournament staff working hard to get the outbreak under control. Italy's Luca Morisi is tackled by Fiji's Nemani Nadolo during their 2013 test in Cremona. Photo: PHOTOSPORT Aayden Clarke said it was a tough situation with players testing positive at different times. "It's just a day by day thing for the team and for FRU and all the players at the moment," he said. "We've all got aspirations to see international rugby and we want to see the Flying Fijians out there doing their things against Italy but public safety and everything that applies to the rest of society does so within this team as well and the players are aware of that. "They're just going to go through the best possible steps that they can and then make a call when they can."

By James Gallagher, BBC Health and science correspondent A new vaccine that protects against Covid-19 is almost 95 percent effective, early data from US company Moderna shows. In this file image, volunteers are given the Moderna vaccine in August in Detroit, Michigan Photo: AFP / Henry Ford Health System The results come hot on the heels of similar results from Pfizer, and add to growing confidence that vaccines can help end the pandemic. Both companies used a highly innovative and experimental approach to designing their vaccines. Moderna says it is a "great day" and they plan to apply for approval to use the vaccine in the next few weeks. However, this is still early data and key questions remain unanswered. How good is it? The trial involved 30,000 people in the US with half being given two doses of the vaccine, four weeks apart. The rest had dummy injections. The analysis was based on the first 95 to develop Covid-19 symptoms. Only five of the Covid cases were in people given the vaccine and 90 were in those given the dummy treatment. The company says the vaccine is protecting 94.5 percent of people. The data also shows there were 11 cases of severe Covid in the trial, but none happened in people who were immunised. "The overall effectiveness has been remarkable... it's a great day," Tal Zaks, the chief medical officer at Moderna, told BBC News. Dr Stephen Hoge, the company's president, said he "grinned ear to ear for a minute" when the results came in. He told BBC News: "I don't think any of us really hoped that the vaccine would be 94% effective at preventing Covid-19 disease, that was really a stunning realisation." Moderna says it will apply to regulators in the US in the coming weeks. It expects to have 20 million doses available in the country. The company hopes to have up to one billion doses available for use around the world next year and is planning to seek approval in other countries too. What don't we know? We still do not know how long immunity will last as volunteers will have to be followed for much longer before that can be answered. There are hints it offers some protection in older age groups, who are most at risk of dying from Covid-19, but there is not full data. Zaks told the BBC their data so far suggests the vaccine "does not appear to lose its potency" with age. And it is not known whether the vaccine just stops people becoming severely ill, or if it stops them spreading the virus too. All these questions will affect how a coronavirus vaccine is used. Are there any side effects? No significant safety concerns have been reported, but nothing, including paracetamol, is 100 percent safe. Short lived fatigue, headache and pain were reported after the injection in some patients. "These effects are what we would expect with a vaccine that is working and inducing a good immune response," said Prof Peter Openshaw, from Imperial College London. How does this compare to the Pfizer vaccine? Both vaccines use the same approach of injecting part of the virus's genetic code in order to provoke an immune response. The preliminary data we have seen so far is very similar - around 90% protection for the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine and around 95 percent for Moderna's. However, both trials are still taking place and the final numbers could change. Moderna's vaccine appears to be easier to store as it remains stable at minus 20C for up to six months and can be kept in a standard fridge for up to a month. Pfizer's vaccine needs ultra-cold storage at around minus 75C, but it can be kept in the fridge for five days. The Sputnik V vaccine, developed in Russia, has also released very early data which suggests it is 92 percent effective. How does it work? Moderna has developed an "RNA vaccine" - it means part of the coronavirus's genetic code is injected into the body. This starts making viral proteins, but not the whole virus, which is enough to train the immune system to attack. It should train the body to make both antibodies - and another part of the immune system called T-cells to fight the coronavirus. When will Covid be over? In the space of a week, the positive results from Pfizer, Moderna and Russia have transformed our chances of ending the pandemic. Before the first results, the talk was of a vaccine that offered maybe 50% protection. Those expectations have been blown out of the water - not only are vaccines possible, they appear to be potent. The data so far also raise hopes that the other vaccines in development will be successful too, but now as one challenge draws to an ends, another begins. The logistical effort of actually vaccinating, potentially billions of people, around the world is gargantuan. Some experts have claimed normality by spring, others by next winter, others still think there is a long journey ahead. The answer will depend on how quickly countries can get this "hope in a vial" into the arms of people. What reaction has there been? "This news from Moderna is tremendously exciting and considerably boosts optimism that we will have a choice of good vaccines in the next few months," said Prof Peter Openshaw from Imperial College London. He added: "We need more complete details than we have in this press release, but this announcement adds to the general feeling of optimism." Prof Trudie Lang, from the University of Oxford, said: "It is very good news indeed to see another vaccine coming through with similar efficacy results as were reported last week from Pfizer. "This is also an interim analysis, which means that there were enough cases within the vaccinated volunteers to give statistical significance and allow the team to break the blind to determine who had the active vaccine and who had placebo." Dr Richard Hatchett, the head of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, said: "The Moderna results are as good as we could have hoped for and really terrifically encouraging." - BBC

South Australia has reintroduced a number of significant restrictions in response to a coronavirus cluster in Adelaide's northern suburbs. Adelaide. Photo: AFP / Hemis Premier Steven Marshall said all inbound international flights to Adelaide have been cancelled for the remainder of this week and the Australian Defence Force will be mobilised in South Australia. He said space may be required in the medi-hotel system for locally-acquired cases. Chief Public Health Officer, Professor Nicola Spurrier, said the despite significant rates of testing today, no new cases had been identified beyond the 17 confirmed this morning. There are currently 34 active cases in South Australia including repatriated citizens in hotel quarantine. Mr Marshall said from midnight tonight, a number of restrictions would be reintroduced for the whole of South Australia, including: The closure of gyms, play cafes and trampoline facilities, likely for two weeks Community sports fixtures and training temporarily cancelled for both indoor and outdoor sports, as well as contact and non-contact sports Funerals capped at 50 people, with patrons to abide by a one per four square meter density rule Masks mandatory for aged care facilities, with visitors capped at two per day Churches capped at 100 guests Weddings can continue, but all guests must be registered with the Communicable Disease Control Branch Private gatherings at licensed venues will now be capped at 50, with one per four square metres Pubs, clubs and restaurants will be capped at 100 per venue with one per four square metres and no stand-up consumption of alcohol Private gatherings are capped at 10 people per residence All activities with an approved COVID management plan scheduled for the next two weeks have been cancelled Cinemas and theatres to follow the one person per four square metre density rule Nail salon operators, tattooists, hairdressers and personal care service providers will need to wear a mask Care workers limited to one workplace Premier Steven Marshall thanked the people of South Australia for flocking to get tested. "We are facing our biggest test to-date," Mr Marshall said. "We are working around the clock to stay ahead of this cluster, no effort will be spared. "We must act swiftly and decisively to stay ahead of the game." The Premier urged people to work from home if they could, asked for all unnecessary travel plans to be cancelled, said mask should be worn when social distancing was not possible and encouraged vulnerable people to stay home and avoid visitors. 'Facing a second wave' Chief of Public Health, Professor Nicola Spurrier, said putting restriction in place was the best way to get ahead of the cluster. "What we are facing is, indeed, a second wave, but we haven't got the second wave yet. We are in very, very early days," Professor Spurrier said. "The first thing we need to do … is the testing, contact tracing and getting people into quarantine very, very quickly. "The other way of getting ahead of this and to stop that second wave, and to suppress it, is to put some restrictions in place to reduce the number of close contacts between people." She said the cluster "is clearly from a medi-hotel" but genomic testing was ongoing. "We have tested the two people who are security guards from a medi-hotel and the one person that works in the medi-hotel from back of house and we are waiting to have that genomic analysis," she said. "Then we will be able to link exactly to which person they were able to get it from."

By Alex De Waal for BBC Analysis - Ethiopia appears to be fast approaching civil war. Fighting between forces loyal to the federal government headed by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) has claimed hundreds of lives and is threatening to rip the country apart. A young person stands below a national Ethiopian flag during a blood donation rally organised by the city administration of Addis Ababa on 12 November, 2020. Photo: AFP / Eduardo Soteras While battles rage on the ground, the two sides are also fighting a war of words. Each is trying to rally their people and also to convince the world that they have the moral high ground. The government in Addis Ababa and the TPLF accuse one another of firing the first shots. Prime Minister Abiy has said that army officers were murdered in cold blood. The Tigrayan leader, Debretsion Gebremichael, says there was a co-ordinated attack by Ethiopian special forces and troops from neighbouring Eritrea. Until there is an independent investigation, the rival stories remain allegations without evidence, which are being used to whip up hostile sentiments. 'Years of darkness' The two sides see Ethiopia's history totally differently. Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie was overthrown in a revolution in 1974. A military junta known as the Derg seized power. It inflicted the infamous "Red Terror", when tens of thousands of young people were murdered by the military regime, and a prolonged civil war against insurgents across the country. The Tigrayans remember those as years of darkness, when daily bombing raids by air force jets forced them to move only at night. In one terrible air raid in 1988 on the town of Hausien, 1800 marketgoers died and the smoke and dust from the bombardment literally turned a bright day as dark as midnight. Paraders carry photos of their deceased relatives during the 45th anniversary of the "Armed Struggle of the Peoples of Tigray" on February 19, 2020, in Mekelle. Photo: Michael Tewelde / AFP A coalition led by the TPLF, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) defeated the military government in 1991. On the day they took power, EPRDF leader Meles Zenawi, a Tigrayan, said that his number one goal was for Ethiopians to be able to eat three meals a day. Over the EPRDF's 27 years in power, the child mortality rate fell from about one in five to one in 20. Famine was banished. Large-scale civil war was ended. But Ethiopia did not see democracy. Prime Minister Abiy and his followers call these "27 years of darkness". A rising generation of young people felt silenced and shut out of political participation. They argue that a clique of Tigrayans dominated politics, the army and the economy for their own benefit. Abiy Ahmed, an ethnic Oromo, was swept to power on a wave of discontent. The EPRDF chose him as party leader - and hence prime minister - in 2018. He rapidly liberalised politics. He dissolved the EPRDF coalition and set up a new party - the Prosperity Party. These moves won him popular acclaim. His critics acidly remarked "to dismantle is not to build". Abiy made peace with Eritrea, for which he won the Nobel Peace Prize last year, and became a close confidante of President Isaias Afwerki, despite the Eritrean leader's long-stated aim of dismantling Ethiopia, beginning with its army. Ethiopian Prime Minster Abiy Ahmed speaks in a meeting in Addis Ababa on September 14, 2020. Photo: Anadolu Agency / AFP Abiy is a devout Pentecostalist and often speaks as though his mandate is from God. His writings, including his PhD summary, read like self-help business school manuals. He has supreme confidence that dynamic, self-assured active leadership generates its own reality. Without doubt he has massive support among the Amharas in Addis Ababa and the Amhara region. But neither he nor his new party have faced any electoral test. 'Ditch the constitution' Yet Abiy says that the TPLF crossed a red line when it held regional elections in September. The federal government had not authorised those elections and the Prosperity Party was not able to contest. The TPLF counters that national elections had been scheduled for earlier in the year and repeatedly postponed - partly because of Covid-19 - and that the government's term had expired without a firm date for a poll. They say that theirs is the only regional government with a mandate from the voters. The political battleground is Ethiopia's constitution. The country has a federal system in which the major ethnic groups administer their own regions. This was adopted in 1994 shortly after the EPRDF took power. Abiy wants to do away with it. Uniquely, Ethiopia's regional states have a right to self-determination. The spirit of this provision was that if there were to be a democratic collapse at the centre, a region could go its own way. This was demanded not just by the Tigrayans, but by leaders from other historically marginalised groups, including the Oromo - Ethiopia's largest ethnic group. Pro-Tigrayan demonstrators display placards during a protest in front of the Chancellery in Berlin on November 12, 2020. Photo: John Macdougall / AFP The TPLF has not demanded separation. But the logic of today's confrontation is leading them down that path. TPLF political domination was resented by many Oromos and other ethnic groups in southern Ethiopia. But all of them treasured the self-government articles in the constitution. Indeed, one of these groups - the Sidama - voted to have their own federal state last year. 'Rule or ruin' This year, Abiy has turned against the Oromo youth movement that brought him to power. After the killing of the Oromo singer Hachalu Hundessa, more than 150 people died in riots and Abiy clamped down and imprisoned upwards of 10,000 people. Among them are Jawar Mohamed, founder of the Oromo Media Network, who faces terrorism charges. Another is veteran opposition leader Lidetu Ayalew who remains in prison despite a court ordering his release. Armed gangs calling themselves the Oromo Liberation Army killed more than 50 Amhara villagers in Wollega district two weeks ago. Abiy blamed "Ethiopia's enemies" determined to "rule or ruin the country" - code words for the TPLF. His power base is among a mostly Amhara political elite that wants to abolish the federal system in favour of a unitary government system. There are many good reasons to criticise ethnic federalism, but Ethiopia's diverse groups have made it clear that - well armed and politically aware - they cannot be ruled against their will. Ethiopian migrants who fled intense fighting in their homeland of Tigray, wait for their ration of food in the border reception centre of Hamdiyet, in the eastern Sudanese state of Kasala, on November 14, 2020. Photo: Ebrahim Hamid / AFP Reports from the war front indicate a massacre of Amhara civilians. Reports from Addis Ababa and other towns tell of the mass round-up and internment of Tigrayans. Government forces have imposed a news blackout on Tigray. They are also mounting a total blockade on the region, halting supplies of humanitarian aid. The TPLF says it has captured Eritrean troops who invaded Tigray. Abiy's declared war aim is to impose federal control on Tigray. No observer of Ethiopia believes that is possible. Eritrea's president, who some believe may have been involved in the planning of the Tigray invasion, has not spoken. Ethiopia's conflict is escalating out of control by the day. This will probably cost tens of thousands of lives. And as the government's own 2002 national security white paper foresaw: "The prospect of disintegration cannot be totally ruled out." *Alex de Waal is the executive director of the World Peace Foundation at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in the US. - BBC

Fiji's Law Society says growing public mistrust of police in the country will deprive the law enforcement arm of its most important resource - the support of the Fijian people. The warning comes in the wake of increased police brutality cases in Fiji. William Clarke. Photo: Supplied/Fiji Law Society The society's president, William Clarke, said they were concerned at the latest report that 400 police officers had faced prosecution over the past five years on a range of matters including police brutality and sexual assault. Figures from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions reportedly showed that between May 2015 and April 2020, 16 charges of rape were laid against police, two of murder and nine of manslaughter. The figures also showed that more than 110 charges of assault were brought against the officers. Other charges included perjury, abduction, conspiracy, and aiding prisoners to escape. In a statement, Clarke said an effective police force was the bedrock on which peace, law and order were maintained. "These things are among the greatest gifts any society can offer to its people," he said. "So any public body concerned with the rule of law - including the Fiji Law Society - must be concerned about the effect of these allegations on public confidence in the police force as an institution. "Police officers are entrusted by law with special powers for the purpose of protecting the community and enforcing our laws." Clarke said these broad powers must be exercised with strict discipline to ensure that the citizens' legal rights are respected. "Most importantly, if people lose confidence in the police or begin to fear the police force, the police force is deprived of its most important resource - the confidence and support of the people. "Feedback from our members is that complaints against police officers, which are referred to the force's internal affairs division 'go nowhere', unless they have serious consequences, such as the death of a suspect and become headline news. "If the police are not accountable for resolution of complaints which are seen as less serious, the result, in our view, is a culture of impunity - which leads to the serious problems of which the public are becoming increasingly aware and which are damaging to the force." Clarke said the Fiji Law Society had expressed to acting Commissioner of Police, Rusiate Tudravu, an interest to help resolve the issue.