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On Thursday June 29 the Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands – RAMSI – comes to an end after 14 years.
“What are we looking for? And where do we go from here? As we celebrate this service, do we have a goal? Do we have an aim? A saying goes ‘if we aim at nothing, we will hit nothing”.
These were the challenges the Anglican Archbishop of the Church of Melanesia, George Takeli, put to the people attending a thanksgiving service held on Sunday marking the start of a week of celebrations.
Hundreds of people gathered at the Maranatha Hall east of Honiara for the service which was also attended by the governor general Sir Frank Kabui, the prime minister Manasseh Sogavare and the chief justice Sir Albert Palmer.
The Royal Solomon Islands Police Force (RSIPF) has been purged of militants and reconstituted with candidates from across the nation’s ethnic and cultural spectrum.
Today’s officers have the same level of training as police in Australia.
But Radio New Zealand International reports that some locals are uncertain what will happen after the departure of RAMSI.
The outgoing RAMSI head, Quentin Devlin, told Fairfax Media he has full confidence in the police force, but understand people’s misgivings.
The Solomon Islands government has been pointed out that there will still be Australian and New Zealand police officers in the Solomon Islands – as long term advisors.
And much of the work to improve the government will continue under longer term bilateral programs.
As one of the locally based diplomats put it ‘RAMSI is leaving but we are not.’
Australian-led RAMSI involved 15 countries. It began in July 2003, at the request of the Solomon Islands government which was near collapse after bloody ethnic fighting killed hundreds, displaced tens of thousands broke out and brought the nation’s economy to its knees.
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News category: Asia Pacific.
