A group of armed Isatabu Freedom Movement (IFM) guerrillas move through a Moro Movement village ...

A group of armed Isatabu Freedom Movement (IFM) guerrillas move through a Moro Movement village on the Weathercoast. The men are dressed in traditional kabilatos (bark loincloths) and carry homemade rifles. the man in the centre is carrying a ghetto-blaster (stereo radio cassette player). The IFM guerrillas are members of the Moro Movement on the Weathercoast of Guadalcanal, a group which renounces modern ways. The IFM claims indigenous rights to land on Guadalcanal. They patrol the coastline to defend Moro villages from attack by Malaita Eagle Force (MEF) forces. All huts in the well organised Moro Movement villages are traditionally designed and built. Ethnic tension escalated in Solomon Islands in the late 1990s. The Isatabu Freedom Movement (IFM) claimed indigenous rights to land on Guadalcanal. They resented what they perceived as increasing Malaitan dominance of the Solomon Islands government and of the island of Guadalcanal. On 5 June 2000 the Malaita Eagle Force (MEF) seized control of key installations in Honiara and took Prime Minister Bartholomew Ulufa'alu hostage, demanding his resignation. During the political unrest in Solomon Islands, a Commonwealth delegation led by Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and New Zealand Foreign Minister Phil Goff, visited Honiara on 10-11 June 2000, to assist with peace negotiations between the Solomon Islands government and militant groups.