Page 8 - IB June 2017

Cover Story
Region watches as assistance mission comes to an end

Spotlight

on Honiara

by Netani Rika maintain a police presence for the near
future.
AT the end of June, the Regional As- In a statement provided to SBS Radio,
sistance Mission to the Solomon Islands the Australian Federal Police said the 40
will come to an end. officers would not be armed.
What started off as a military op- Called the Solomon Island Police De-
eration to quell violence and return the velopment Programme, this will be the
country to democracy after the ethnic largest deployment of Australian police
tensions of 2000 will be no more and officers after the 73-strong officer mis-
normality will return. sion in Papua New Guinea.
Or will it? “SIPDP was developed in consulta-
When politically-fuelled ethnic ten- tion with key stakeholders in Solomon
sions were literally fanned into flame in Islands, including DFAT (Australian De-
2000, the Happy Isles as the Solomons partment of Foreign Affairs), the RSIPF,
are commonly known eruoted into vio- and the Solomon Islands Government,”
... the plans
lence and bloodshed. the AFP statement said.
The Chinese community – mostly trad- The AFP training program will cost ‘
ers – bore the brunt of ferocious attacks $79m over four years.
and were evacuated by chartered flights “They will not be armed and they will that are in
to safety after much of China Town was not have policing powers,” the AFP said
torched or looted by angry mobs. in a statement to SBS World News.
Troops from New Zealand, Fiji and “AFP officers deployed will be under- place and the
Tonga made up the core of the military taking capacity building work.”
The police move came just after an
stabilisation force which responded to announcement by Australia’s Defence institutions that
the plea for help to calm tensions and
bring about a return to democracy. Minister, Senator Marise Payne, that the
This was the second regional stabili- institutions developed during RAMSI’s have developed
sation mission since the South Pacific time were ready to take over.
Peacekeeping Forces was deployed to She described the RAMSI exit as “a
Bougainville after a truce singned in long-time coming”. during that time
1997 ended the civil war on the island. Payne said Australia had worked
Pacific nations also supported a New closely with the Solomon Islands Gov- in the Solomons
Zealand and Australian-led monitoring ernment and regional partners.
mission with military capabilities in East “I think the plans that are in place
Timor (now Timor Leste) in 1999-2000. and the institutions that have developed Islands are the
The concept of regional assistance was during that time in the Solomon Islands
relied upon when the Solomon Islands are the right way to take it from here,” right way to take
sough help. she said.
Military operations as part of RAMSI “It’s been a very complex and interest-
ended in 2013 but a police component ing relationship as it has progressed.” it from here ... ‘
made up of regional officers remained to The relationship gained additional
help the local force prepare for indepen- complexity early this year when Indo-
dent operations. nesia offered to support development of - Australia’s Defence Minister,
Slated for full withdrawal this month, local police officers – a situation deeply Senator Marise Payne
word is now that the Australians will troubling to the Pacific’s pro-West Papua

8 Islands Business, May 2017