Battle continues in Solomon Islands against UXOs eight decades after WWII

Susana
Suisuiki, Pacific Waves
Presenter/Producer
Christina
Persico, RNZ Pacific Bulletin Editor

More
than 80 years since the Battle of Guadalcanal in Solomon
Islands, communities today are still grappling with the
unexploded devices left behind.

The major battle in
World War Two resulted in thousands of unexploded and
abandoned ordnaces (UXOs/AXOs) that litter the islands
today.

Humanitarian group, The Halo Trust, has been
surveying the country’s airfields, ammunition stores, and
former military encampments since 2023 and has identified 22
hazardous areas so far.

Programme manager Chris
Teasdale told Pacific Waves that the trust has two
teams in Honiara conducting non-technical surveys, and two
teams in Munda, Western Province, conducting a big mapping
exercise.

However, he said more needs to be
done.

“The whole of the Solomon Islands is vast and
logistically challenging.

“The information we’re
getting together, we’re then passing on to the police, which
will support them in identifying areas and disposal of
items.”

He said people in the Solomon Islands have
learned to live with abandoned bombs.

“This is an
80-year problem,” he said.

“It’s just slowly been kind
of chipped away at. The Solomon Islands has developed a lot;
it’s grown a lot.

“The population has grown, and
they’ve been able to work around that.”

He said the
police often turn up “within a few hours” to dispose of
items, and education for locals to adapt or to be safe
around items they find is helping a lot.

In 2021, one
person was killed and others injured in Honiara when
an American 105mm shell exploded. The group of four
young people had built a woodfire to cook food for a
fundraiser, unaware that buried directly underneath was a
projectile left over from the war.

In 2020, two
aid agency workers were killed while surveying for
UXOs.

Last August, 202 unexploded ordnances were
removed from a school site.

Explosive Ordnance
Disposal Department’s executive director Clifford Tunuki
said the incident was an eye-opener for schools, domestic,
and commercial houses to think about site inspection for
UXOs before they start erecting buildings.

But it is
not just the Solomon Islands left littered with UXOs; nine
Pacific nations deal with this.

Palau operations
manager for Norwegian People’s Aid, Roger Hess, said
mishandled munitions can kill people.

“Palau has
not had an accident in decades, but that doesn’t mean there
is no potential for it,” Hess said.

In Nauru in 2023,
almost
half of the population was evacuated while the
Australian Defence Force relocated an unexploded
ordnance.

Experts say that poor data collection and
coordination are preventing Pacific island governments from
combating the menace, including accessing international
assistance.

Teasdale said removing unexploded
ordnances in the Solomon Islands will likely take years. The
Halo Trust has been in the country for just over two
years.

“I can easily see this being another five
years, maybe even a 10-year project, but until we fully
understand the kind of what we’re dealing with, it’s going
to be hard to put a date on.

“We’ve done a lot of work
in Honiara, but until we can push out the islands over the
coming months, it’s hard to get that kind of
timeline.”

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