The British MEP Ms Glenys Kinnock said yesterday that she had been trying to mediate in the crisis in the Solomon Islands when she and a colleague were caught up in the coup violence.
Ms Kinnock and a fellow British MEP, Mr John Corrie, were sheltering with others in a hotel in the capital, Honiara, less than a mile from the fighting, which has forced the closure of the main airport. "We have no idea when we'll be able to leave," Ms Kinnock told Reuters. The Malaita Eagles Force has taken control of Honiara and put the Prime Minister, Mr Bartholomew Ulufa'alu, under house arrest, demanding his resignation.
About 60 people have been killed over the last 18 months in fighting between the Malaita Eagles and the Isatabu Freedom Movement on Guadalcanal, scene of one of the most famous battles of the second World War.
Ms Kinnock, wife of the former leader of the British Labour party, Mr Neil Kinnock, said she and Mr Corrie had been in the Solomon Islands for the past week trying to understand the roots of the conflict.
"I've never seen anything like it in my life," she said. "Women haven't been able to go into market. The town has been claimed by these kind of Rambo-style young men."
Ms Kinnock said she and Mr Corrie had seen both Mr Ulufa'alu and his captor, militia chief Andrew Nori. "(Ulufa'alu) came to the hotel to see us," she said. "He had armed militia with him, which is quite a shocking sight - to see an elected prime minister under armed guard in that way . . .
"We assured him our support was for legitimate government and proper constitutional measures to resolve the crisis."
Mr Ulufa'alu offered to resign yesterday in the interests of peace, but he would do so only at a meeting of parliament, one of his government ministers said.