All events · After the Wall

The Solomon Islands Tensions and the Expulsion of Malaitans from Guadalcanal

1998–2003 · Oceania

Displacement Mass Killing Sexual Violence

Displaced

30,000

Estimates of those displaced range from about 20,000 to 35,000, most of them Malaitan settlers driven from rural Guadalcanal into Honiara or back to Malaita between late 1998 and 2000; the figures come from the Solomon Islands Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which reported in 2012, and from contemporary UN and Australian assessments. The country's total population at the 1999 census was about 409,000, so the displacement affected on the order of 5-8 per cent of the population.

Share of the population affected

28%

of the population of Guadalcanal province and Honiara, 1999

Killed

200–250

direct killing

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What happened

From late 1998 militants on Guadalcanal, organised as the Guadalcanal Revolutionary Army and later the Isatabu Freedom Movement, attacked and drove out Malaitan settlers who had migrated to the island over previous decades, in a conflict over land, employment and the distribution of state resources. Malaitans formed the Malaita Eagle Force, which in June 2000 seized the Honiara police armoury, took the prime minister hostage and forced his resignation. Between 20,000 and 35,000 people were displaced, most of them Malaitans; the state effectively ceased to function, and a 2000 peace agreement at Townsville did not hold. Australia led the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands from July 2003, which disarmed the militias and restored basic administration. The Solomon Islands Truth and Reconciliation Commission, chaired by Sir Peter Kenilorea, delivered its report in 2012, documenting around 200 killings together with widespread destruction of property, torture and sexual violence, and criticised the government for delaying publication. The Pacific island states outside Fiji, Bougainville and Nauru were thinly covered in the atlas.

Parties

Guadalcanal militants drove Malaitan settlers from rural Guadalcanal; a Malaitan militia seized Honiara and the police armoury and forced the prime minister's resignation

Disputed

Responsibility and reparation: the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's report was withheld from official publication for a period after its 2012 completion, and its findings on the conduct of particular militia and state actors remain politically disputed in Solomon Islands.

The denominator

The 1999 Solomon Islands census counted about 60,000 in Guadalcanal province and about 49,000 in Honiara, out of a national population of roughly 409,000. Malaitan settlers on Guadalcanal, the main target of the expulsions, are usually put at 20,000-35,000.

Where the baseline comes from

Guadalcanal Provinceopen-edited
Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islandsopen-edited

On the death toll

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission documented approximately 200 killings during the Tensions, based on statements taken from victims and witnesses; the Commission itself cautioned that its figure is a floor, since not all deaths were reported to it, and slightly higher counts circulate in contemporary reporting.

Documented forms of violence

Mass KillingDestruction of PropertySexual ViolenceTortureArbitrary Detention

The Solomon Islands Truth and Reconciliation Commission documented killings, torture, rape and the burning of homes by militia on both sides.

Formal findings

Solomon Islands Truth and Reconciliation Commission (2012) — 2012 final report documenting some 200 killings, torture, sexual violence, forced displacement and destruction of property during the Tensions of 1998-2003, and making recommendations on reparations and reconciliation — source