In the lead-up to RAMSI, Solomon Islands was widely considered to be a state on the brink of collapse. Years of ethnic conflict and political instability had resulted in the widespread displacement of communities, violence, corruption and a climate of intimidation and fear.

Dr Ellie Wainwright of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute was the principle author of a policy paper that preceded the Australian government's decision to assist Solomon Islands. She says before RAMSI, the Solomons had essentially ceased to function as an effective state.

'The country was paralysed by an acute political and security crisis in which ex-militia members and gangs were really holding the rest of society to ransom,' she says.

'We saw the government bankrupt, the economy had nosedived, the delivery of services such as health and education had essentially ground to a halt.'

RAMSI's achievements

After a call for help from the Solomon Islands government in April 2003, the Australian government undertook a huge about-turn in its policy towards the Pacific and agreed to provide hands-on assistance.

Within months 'Operation Helpem Fren' - a regional intervention force comprised of police, military personnel and government and public sector advisors aimed at restoring stability to the Pacific island state - was launched. The Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands arrived in Honiara on July 24, 2003.

RAMSI has had considerable success so far. Listed among the mission's achievements are the restoration of general law and order; thousands of arrests - including more than 100 Solomon Islands police officers; a highly successful gun amnesty; the stabilisation of the budget; and progress in economic reform.

However, as the Australian government admits, many of the longer term challenges for the mission are only now emerging.

Catching the 'big fish'

Now that security has been restored to the streets of Solomon Islands, there are growing calls for RAMSI to start addressing some of the root causes of the country's troubles. One of them is corruption.

Dr Wainwright says RAMSI initially pursued militia members and corrupt police officers. She says there is now a growing clamour for the prosecution of the 'big fish' - the senior figures in Solomon Islands society accused of corrupt activities.

RAMSI has recently established a Joint Corruption Taskforce, which she says is beginning to make inroads into the senior levels of Solomons society, including the political level.

However, Chris Ryan, a Victorian crown prosecutor who recently spent a year working for RAMSI as chief legal officer to the Director of Public Prosecutions Office, says it is unrealistic to expect instant results in these 'big fish' cases.

'Investigations into fraud and corruption are hard and they're long and they're slow, and when a good deal of the records have either been destroyed deliberately or through negligence they are even harder and slower,' he says.

Mr Ryan says police have spent a long time investigating and many corruption cases are 'laying in wait' - during his year in the Solomons he did not see the prosecution of any major corruption cases through to the end.

The 'youth bulge'

Another challenge that lies ahead for RAMSI is helping Solomon Islands manage what Dr Wainwright describes as the 'youth bulge'.

The Solomons has one of the highest population growth rates in the world, with over 50 per cent of the country under 20 years of age.

Dr Wainwright says RAMSI needs to help create income generating opportunities to give young Solomon Islanders a future and prevent them from becoming 'enamoured with angry young men with guns'.

Chris Ryan witnessed the youth unemployment problem first hand in his role in the DPP's office in Solomon Islands, where he says there are more young lawyers than there are jobs.

He says after recognising the need for the mentoring of young law graduates, an agreement in principle was made with the DPPs Office to employ four young graduates.

However, this is yet to happen - a situation Mr Ryan puts down in part to the Solomon Islands bureaucracy. He says the office needs young undergraduates to be trained in their profession on the job, in order to avoid a skills shortage when RAMSI appointed lawyers leave the country.

The challenges of capacity building

One of the criticisms that has been levelled at RAMSI is that the mission runs the risk of creating a culture of dependency - a problem commonly associated with capacity building exercises.

Dr Wainwright says this is a real risk.

'RAMSI must continue to ensure that it builds up Solomon Islanders' skills, and doesn't erode them. That's the only way to guarantee any form of sustainability before RAMSI departs,' she says.

She says there can also be problems in the model of skills transfer, when those working in advisor roles have difficulties making the switch from doing the job themselves to mentoring and watching others take up the tasks.

Mr Ryan recognises the potential for such problems, but says Solomon Islanders should be trusted when it comes to their capacity and desire to do their jobs.

He cites as an example two young lawyers he worked with in the DPPs Office.

'To suggest that these guys aren't on the ball and aren't thinking, 'How am I going to in the future work as a lawyer for the Solomon Islands?' is selling them a bit short," Mr Ryan said.

'[Before RAMSI] these fellas didn't think about the future because they didn't perceive they had a future. And once there was a glimmer of hope that they did have a future then they were thinking about how it was going to be for the Solomon Islands.'

Impatience for change

Given its successes so far, expectations are high within Solomon Islands that RAMSI can help solve some of the country's broader and more complicated social problems.

Dr Wainwright acknowledges there is an impatience within sectors of the community for RAMSI to tackle concerns like land tenure, equity and ethnic reconciliation.

However, she believes these issues can only be addressed once considerable state building has been achieved, and should be the responsibility primarily of Solomon Islanders.

'What you need to do first is to build up the institutions of the state so that the local people trust the government,' she says.

'What RAMSI is seeking to do is provide the space wherein Solomon Islanders can start to talk about those terribly important issues like land tenure, like constitutional issues - centralisation versus decentralisation - and the ongoing question of ethnic reconciliation,' she says.


Dr Ellie Wainwright and Chris Ryan were speaking in Melbourne at the first Asia-Pacific Solferino Lecture for 2005, 'Towards a Stable Solomons: Operation Helpem Fren and the Regional Assistance Mission'. The event was presented by the International Humanitarian Law Unit of the Australian Red Cross and Asialink and was broadcast in the region by Radio Australia.