The Native Iowan

Prologue: In June 2000 the Solomon Islands experienced an armed coup that removed the then Prime Minister from office. The coup was ethnically fuelled and was basically a dispute between various tribal groups from Guadalcanal and Malaita. The “ethnic tension”, as it is know, was brought to a semblance of equilibrium in 2003 when the Regional Assistance Mission Solomon Islands (RAMSI) came into existence and removed the rule of gun by returning some level of law and order to the place.

The main “battles” during the tension took place on Guadalcanal. There was lawlessness throughout the islands as police services fell apart, as the government was held at ransom, as the disenfranchised youth of the nation took up arms and had a bad-dream party, as the decent leaders of the Nation ran to their villages, as the less than decent leaders joined in the frenzy of anarchy.

Gizo was a strange “safe haven” for much of the time. As with the Bougainville conflict that started in 1990, Gizo was a place where the various “troops”, leaders, conmen, fringe dwellers and wanna-bes could get a hotel room, a cold beer, a decent meal. It was quite surreal throughout it all.

In a sad way Gizo got kinda use to the random gun shot. Usually on a Saturday night, at a dance, or afterwards the guys with guns would get so dern happy they’d pop a few caps. Usually harmless in it’s own right it was not a real pleasant way to live. But, the up-side was that both periods of time were good for business in. Strange, that, conflict over the boarder equals good money for the safe haven.

There were a couple “deaths” early on in 2000 but these were isolated and had a handle that we could grasp. There were enough reasons apparent in each isolated situation that allowed us all to understand or explain the shootings.

In late 2000 a rude awakening came to Gizo.  A gun fight ended up with 4 dead, one wounded and the Bougainville mercenaries that perpetrated the “hit” in charge of the Police Station if not the town.

So: Been a lot of words, speculation, accusations, overreactions and verbose banter tossed around concerning this incident. I know many of you hold Gizo dear to your hearts. I call it home. And to have this coming down in your “home”… well, I’d lived through better days. I’ll tell you the story as I saw it / see it…

Saturday 11 November 2000

 My kids and I were cooking supper. Gracie and the three youngest kids had been in the states since July. I had Ozborne (a nephew) age 17, Terry, age 19 and Annie, age 23 living with me here in Gizo. Ozzie was still in secondary school. Annie and Terry worked for me and Ozzie worked after school. We shared the big house on the hill. We get along, didn’t get in each other’s way too much and often had fun. Saturdays (we don’t open the Biz on Saturdays) were small job / clean up days at the house. The dogs got their weekly baths. We’d scrub the downstairs floors to get rid of accumulated mud and dog smell. We’d clean windows, scrub bathrooms, etc. We didn’t start early and usually planned a big meal in the eve.

That week we had invited Pat, Ash, Dan and Kerry to supper. Annie had done a big mess of spaghetti. We had a couple beers before supper, a couple bottles of acceptable red with the meal and got stuck into a bottle of single malt with the coffee. By around mid night we were slowing down. The kids were watching a video, the guests took off and I cleaned things up a bit and got ready for bed. I was in my room getting prepared to lay down, relax and float of to sleep to that easy, inebriated dream world.

The phone rang. It was 1 AM. Ash had caught a lift down the hill with Dan. Ash was staying at a pub in town. He’d been working with the province since he’d left Honiara in July. Ash said that there had been gun shots at the Gizo Hotel. He asked me to go get the Chief of Police, Ora, and come down.

There had been gun shots at and around the Hotel before but this was the first time I’d been called and told to get Ora. Something was different this time. It did not feel like the drunk bad boys popping off a couple rounds.

I stopped by Ora’s but the lights were out and I was hesitant to wake his family. I was sure he was either down the hill already or heading that way. Ora is a good man and a good cop.

On my way to get Ash I stopped by my business and got my Rottweiler, Asia, She was a good dog, trained to a lead and being black and big she was intimidating. I am still unsure why I did this. Perhaps only because, being real nervous, a dog just makes me feel better.

We drove by the Hotel on the way to the police station. The shore side of the road had a number of guys standing with guns at ready. Kinda spooky to drive down a road and get between a group of armed guys and their target, the hotel. In any event we got to the police station just as the manager of the Hotel, Dave, walked in. There were a number of coppers there. All were wide-eyed and a bit pale. There had been shots at the hotel (a large number from more than one gun… obviously not a drunken pop off) and the road was “guarded by guys with guns.

Ora showed up. Nobody knew what was up and the guys on the road sorta made us all hesitant to go have a look. Ora, Dave and I decided to check it all out. The hotel was about 40% full. The shooting had been around the pool. As far as we knew no one had been in or out of the area. I walked up to one of the guys with guns that I recognised. I asked them what was happening and if they could please pull back from the hotel so we could go in. The guys with guns were hard to see / count. At first I saw 3 then 5 then 10 then… They were, as near as I could tell then, all Bouganvillians.

We figured out that they were after “Cornelius”. This Corny is a Bouganvillian who had been around for months causing trouble and getting away with it because he had guns and a small band of thugs. These guys apparently were there to take their rouge brother “out”.

So we get them to back down a bit and Ora, Dave and I go into the hotel. We check the wings around the pool where Corny had been staying. Nothing. We came back out. Had some dramas when a person in one room was watching from behind the curtain. The guys with guns were nervous, prepared to target the movement as a threat, so I went up and found a very frightened woman with a baby peeking through the window.

Things get a bit confused here. Ora had gone somewhere else. Dave and I decided to have a look at the rooms in the back garden area. A group of Corny’s guys had been in room D so we headed that way. Dave was about to knock on the door when I found the first body. He was lying on the sidewalk, no shirt on, sprawled on his back. It was dark and I could not see too well but it was obvious he was not breathing. I called Dave back from the door. For all we know the shots had come from there.

We backed out and asked a copper to go get Ora. Room D did not feel good to me. I sat in the shadows and waited for Ora. In the mean time a young Police Field Force guy, Jim, walked up to room D from the other direction. He opened the door. We could see in from where we were. It looked as though there’d been a visit there from Feddy Kruger. I could see blood on the walls.

 

Jim came back just as Ora arrived. Jim said that there was no one alive in the room. He and Ora had a look. Three dead. As with the guy on the side walk, all were shot by high power rounds. Bullet holes in the wall, floor, ceiling.

I was outside. Asia was interested in going behind the building. I looked down and saw blood on the footpath. I walked with Asia to the side of the building and saw a very bloody pair of flip-flops that someone had stepped out of. Water was running to beat the band. We thought someone had left the water on in room D but in actual fact the bullets going through the walls had punched holes in 3 20,000 gallon tanks.

I called some of the cops over to have a look around. I was concerned that a wounded, and maybe armed, person was lying somewhere near.  I went back and walked around the bar and restaurant area, following a number of bloody tracks. The upstairs bathroom by the bar was pretty messy. It was obvious someone had been in there trying to fix themselves up. Bloody tracks went in many directions. It was strange.

The police were in charge of the 4 bodies and the scene. We had pretty well figured out that there were no bad boys with guns holed up in the hotel. We pulled back, lit smokes and worked it all out.

We heard then that some girls had gone to the hospital with wounds. This explained the bloody tracks. I went and had another chat with the guys with guns. Corny was not in the Hotel. He had run off. They wanted him, the 3 automatic rifles he had and his boys who were still alive. They figured they’d go “hunting” for him. Ora and I figured we could talk him in. We asked the guys with guns to hold off. Ora made some phone calls and eventually got Corny on the line. Gizo is a small place. I spoke to him. Agreed to meet him.

Ora and I went. They were on the side of the road going toward the power station, hiding in the bush. Corny was understandably agitated. He had one guy with him. I talked them into agreeing for me to go tell the guys with guns that I would get Corny to a phone and they could talk. We left him and I went back to discuss it with the guys with guns.

My concern was that they’d let us find Corny then kill him. I didn’t like the idea of being a judas goat and I liked the idea of being near a guy, who was being shot at, even less. We talked with the guys with guns and got their word that, if we brought Corny in, he’d be safe. More to the point, we who brought him in, would be safe.

Ora was on the phone making a report to his boss in Honiara. We were ready to go back out. I did not want to go alone so I grabbed Ash. We met up with Corny and took him to my office. I left them locked in my yard and went back to the police station. I got one of the leaders of the guys with guns on the phone. They spoke in a language I do not know. But the long and short of it was that Corny would come in.

Ora and I went down to the yard. Ash was nervous. He had not been happy that I’d drug him around the hills and valleys dealing with hit men and targeted bad boys. He had a flight to catch at 7:30. It was about 6am by now. The sun was coming up. Ash took off. I made coffee and we all sat around and smoked ciggs and chatted. That done we loaded up in the truck and took the back way to the police station.

The guys with guns were there and acted very reasonable. I went and bought the makings for coffee, some biscuits and some smokes. The guys (the hunted and the hunters) sat around and had breakfast, smoked ciggs and acted as though things were normal. We even said grace before our meal. The Islands are surely amazing…

By this time I was beat. Several hours earlier I had fallen in a hole Dave Ashe was digging for a well. This hole had filled up with water from the holed tanks. My boots were full of water. My butt was wet. I had left Asia at the yard hours before. I went in and asked Ora if I was “off duty”.

I went to the Hotel bar. It was about 9AM. I slugged three beers and headed home to pass out.

So what happened? Two bouganville guys from Crony’s gang were drinking in room D. With them were three girls, A guy from Guadalcanal and a couple guys from either Bouganville or the shortlands. They had no less than 3 SLRs (self loading rifles… 7.65mm automatic assault rifles) The Bouganvillan hunters had entered the room and then raised their guns. The Gcanal guy and the two guys of Corny’s had all reacted. 18 shots were fired. 14 of which hit and killed three guys. One round hit a girl in the leg. Two guys did not move and did not get shot. 

Corny had been up stairs in another room and had sent a Morovo guy down to see what was going on. He came onto the scene as the perpetrators were still in the room. He shouted something and got two rounds in his chest. Corny by this time was heading out.  All he had with him at this time was a .357 revolver.

Corny went to a known safe-house for the bad boys. Ora had this figured out way before any of us. I figure he had left way earlier to talk to him. This is the only explanation for his long absence.

The next week saw Corny jailed in a small, open to the weather, concrete cell. The only Authority in town at this time was the group with the most fire-power. I eventually got to know and very much like the leader of the Hit Men, Lua.

Lua had been a bright teen ager when the Bougainville wars started. He left school and became a bush fighter, and he was good at it.  He was very intelligent. We’d sit later and discuss esoteric topics. So sad that such a bright mind became a combatant through nothing more than a mischance of timing, place and circumstances.

Our leaders of the day were worse than ineffectual. Most residents of Gizo were too frightened to do too much. Our ol’ buddy Ora was a god send in that he had respect and he had balls. One tough old cuss, Ora was able to at least keep the entire shebang from falling into chaos.

A group of us regular citizens had, in June, formed a “civil society” group that organised community policing, regular meetings and a default counsel where disputes, grievances and general discussions could be tabled.  I firmly feel that between the strengths of Ora and the Civil Society group we managed to save Gizo from “falling” as did other urban centres in the country.

It took ages but eventually we balanced things out. I’ll not say things are “back to normal” because I’ve never figured out what normal, in the islands, is.

Lua was eventually tried and convicted of murder. The politicians and their “advisors” that actually hired Lua and his guys to get rid of Corny are still walking free.

Ora retired a few years back. I have not seen him for ages.

Dave and his family moved back to Aus, Ash once again works for the government. I believe Corny is back on Bougainville.  And after all these years I complete the tale of the “shootout at the Gizo Hotel”.