Tonga
Civil unrest in Tonga
On Saturday 18 November 2006, the AFP deployed 34 members to Tonga in response to a call for assistance from the Government of the Kingdom of Tonga, after riots and destruction broke out in Nuku’alofa.
The deployment, named Operation Tokoni (Tongan for friend), arrived with a mission to support the Tonga Police Force (TPF) in re-establishing law and order and to support the massive investigation into the destruction that occurred during the riots.
The AFP team was made up of: members from the International Deployment Group (IDG) including Headquarters, Operations Response and Lateral members about to deploy to the Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI); a specialist forensic team; a PSO Advisor and the AFP’s Pacific Islands Police Advisor.
Within days, the team had expanded to 61 personnel including Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) and Information Technology (IT) specialists, a liaison officer from Fiji and a team of 20 Protection officers.
The AFP members faced a busy first fortnight investigating seven deaths and 87 separate crime scenes.
Over a period of a month, 64 members rotated through Tonga, possessing a range of different skills, including: Disaster Victim Identification, Arson Investigation, IT, Protection, Investigations and General Duties policing. There are 3 members currently remaining in an advisory capacity. These members will remain in mission until a joint Aus/NZ scoping mission has been completed in mid March.
