BY JOHN HOUANIHAU
THE Minister for Police, National Security, and Correctional Services has welcomed the Enhanced Explosive Ordinance Disposal Corporation support to RSIPF from the Australian Government.
Anthony Veke made the statement during the signing and launching of the Enhanced Explosive Ordinance Disposal Corporation (EOD) at the PM’s and office of Cabinet Friday 20 August last week.
At the outset, Hon. Veke has conveyed his heartfelt appreciation to the Australian Government for the generous support to the Solomon Islands Explosive Ordinance Disposal EOD Unit.
“What you are offering today will go a long way into ensuring the safety and wellbeing of ordinary Solomon islanders since the majority of people live in rural settings and will rely on the land for sustenance.
“We all understand that the threat of UXOs is not to be taken lightly and it is my ministry’s aim to ensure that we continue to address the dangers that they cause. It is not an easy task but one that required a corporation with a wide range of actors domestically as well as internationally,’’ said the Minister.
He said that ever since the support offer was given by former Australian Defence Minister Hon. Lynda Rayless in August 2020, a lot of meetings and discussions were done to establish, understand how the program will be rolled out.
“I am now pleased to say that today we bear witness to the successful conclusions of this discussions. This support is timely assistance to our specialized unit to deal with UXO’s. The RSIPF EOD unit is a small and dedicated unit within the police agency.
“And though they may have demonstrated the high quality of work they still remained under-resourced and that requires progressive training capability to continue to improve on their current skills levels.
“Therefore it is with much appreciation that we received this package as a sign of respect, and friendship. This EOD support as expected will deliver a substantial equipment infrastructure and training capacity to the EOD unit over a period of two to three years.
“We are forever grateful, and if I can highlight that under our national security strategy, such assistance is contributing immensely to the whole of the govt approach alone with donor partners in tackling the various dimensions of security threats facing our country. Thus, on behalf of the Ministry, and RSIPF, please convey our deepest gratitude and heartfelt thank you to the Australian defence force and the Minister of defence for their continuous support.
