Solomons PM Seeks Review of RAMSI; Refuses to Meet With Reviewers and Cancels RAMSI Presentation

The Australian-led Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI) entered the Solomon Islands on the request of then-Prime Minister Allen Kemakeza as a peace keeping force in 2003 in response to deadly ethnic conflict between Guadalcanal and Malatian militants.  The Pacific Islands Forum heads a review process in which the Forum, the Solomons, and RAMSI review the mission's progress and problems.

HONIARA, Solomon Islands - Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manesseh Sogavare has said that the Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands needs to be reviewed to make sure that the laws of the Solomon Islands are not being disregarded in favour of foreign interests.  He believes that the "heavy handed military approach" taken by RAMSI is no longer relevant.  Provincial premiers have also called for the reduction of RAMSI police in places where there are low crime rates.

Last week, RAMSI was told that it could not make its presentation at the provincial premiers conference because the relevant conference session was cancelled due to time constraints.  RAMSI special coordinator  Tim George told the Solomon Star that he was extremely disappointed, since his office had worked with the Ministry of Provincial Government for weeks, planning presentations and preparing for question-and-answer and discussion sessions.  George had also ensured that most of the senior RAMSI personnel would attend the conference.

Unfortunately, George was not informed of the change to the conference schedule, and discovered upon his arrival that RAMSI's time allotment had been cancelled in favour of a local trade show.  George and the RAMSI personnel attended the trade show with the permiers, and offered to give a shortened presentation, which they did, delaying their departure time for as long as they could.

"RAMSI places a lot of importance on its relationship with the government and with the people in each of the country's provinces," George told the Solomon Star.

The following day, RAMSI, Pacific Forum delegates, and Solomon Islands government representatives were to meet in Honaria.  While awaiting the arrival of the Solomons representatives, RAMSI and Pacific Forum delegates were informed via telephone that the meeting would be postponed indefinitely.  In the official statement apologizing for cancelling the meeting, the Solomons government said that it had not been given enough time to prepare its position before the meeting.  However, the chair for the meetings, Peter Eafeare, said that the meetings had been set up over a month beforehand.

For more information, please see:

Radio New Zealand International - Solomons Prime Minister reiterates need for review of RAMSI - 17 September 2007

Radio New Zealand International - RAMSI presentation hiccup linked to Solomons scheduling problem - 17 September 2007

Solomon Star - RAMSI upset at lost opportunity - 17 September 2007

Radio New Zealand International - RAMSI review talks in Solomons postponed indefinitely - 18 September 2007

Radio Australia - Solomons cancels RAMSI talks - 19 September 2007

PNG Post-Courier - SI scraps high-level meeting - 20 September 2007

Radio New Zealand International - Solomons government says sorry for pulling plug on meeting over RAMSI - 20 September 2007

Solomon Star - Gov't apologises to Forum - 21 September 2007

Official statements on the cancelled presentation at the premiers conference can be found on the Pacific Magazine website here (Office of the Prime Minister) and here (RAMSI).