Solomon Islands refugees from the Gold Ridge area in the mountains to the south-east of the capital Honiara say their people are looking forward to next week's deployment of the Australian-led intervention force. A dozen families from the area have fled to Honiara after they were threatened and intimidated by a local militant leader known as Sataan.
| From the name, it sounds like he's started his own axis of evil... |
The people from Gold Ridge claim the militant, Stanley Kaoni, an albino known as Sataan or Satan who leads a group of about 30 armed men, has been extorting money and goods from them. One of the men who has fled to Honiara from Gold Ridge, Michael Kelly, claims Sataan and his 'boys' are worried now that the intervention force is on its way. "In fact, they are really afraid of the coming of this group, this force from Australia and New Zealand and we really want the intervention to come and we hope that the situation we have experienced will come to normalcy," Mr Kelly said. The troops and police including personnel drawn from Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Tonga will begin arriving in the Solomons next Thursday. |