RAMSI retained high levels of popular support until the mission finally ended in June 2017.

For most Solomon Islanders, it was the mission's Participating Police Force (PPF) that provided the public face of RAMSI.

In the course of their work, the Pacific Islands police drew on their affinity with village life; appreciation of family and kinship ties, customary practices and beliefs; and their knowledge of the role churches play in Pacific Islands society.

Pacific Islands police had an advantage over their non-Pacific Islands PPF colleagues - some could use their "local" understanding and sensibilities to persuade their Australian or New Zealand managers to move beyond conventional Western policing norms where appropriate.

The church outreach programme permitted uniformed officers to attend services and speak with local congregations about a range of issues including law and order.

An officer involved in this PPF-approved programme claimed its extended outreach was approximately 67,000 people in a single year - or 10% of the national population.

These conclusions are contained in a report prepared by the Australian National University's Department of Pacific Affairs with the support of the Australian Federal Police.

The report offered a detailed examination of the experiences of Pacific Islands police who served with the mission.

The findings are based on interviews, focus-group meetings and some survey work.

Source

lowyinstitute.org

bellschool.anu.edu.au

"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.

Source

• radionz.co.nz
• radionz.co.nz
• news.com.au
• www.smh.com.au
• Image: radionz.co.nz

As the country enters a new phase with the Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI) withdrawing military personnel this year, many Solomon Islanders acknowledge progress toward reconciliation, but also the need to continue addressing issues of land ownership, development and restoration of a healthy society.

"People have been reconciled and you can see there is healing when there is acceptance, restoration of relationships and communal activities slowly come back," Rev Graham Mark, Secretary of the Anglican Church of Melanesia's (ACOM) Commission on Justice, Reconciliation and Peace, said. "All those things tell us we have achieved something, but the challenge is to sustain what has been achieved."

Resentment by the indigenous Gwales of Guadalcanal towards Malaitan settlers on their island escalated as unemployment and hardship worsened during the 1997-98 Asian economic downturn.

The island of Malaita, 100km east of Guadalcanal Island, is heavily populated and, from the early 1900s, Malaitans dominated migrant labour on Guadalcanal's plantations and then urban jobs as Honiara became the hub of services and employment.

The local Isatabu Freedom Movement (IFM) evicted Malaitan settlers, accusing them of taking land and jobs, before taking up arms against rival resistance group Malaita Eagle Force (MEF). By 2002, 35,000 people, or 9 per cent of the population, were displaced, several hundred had died or disappeared and many more experienced or witnessed human rights violations.

The National Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) began hearing people's testimonies in 2010 and delivered its final report to the government last year, although it is yet to be passed through Cabinet before public scrutiny.

Reuben Lilo, director of peace and reconciliation in the Ministry of National Unity, says the TRC programme captured the experiences of many people, but more attention is needed to support this occurring in rural areas where there are limited government services. Continue reading

Sources

• The New Zealand Herald
• Image: Commonwealth Secretariat