{"id":31261,"date":"2017-04-10T06:00:29","date_gmt":"2017-04-09T20:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=31261"},"modified":"2017-04-07T16:40:32","modified_gmt":"2017-04-07T06:40:32","slug":"saving-solomon-islands-crocodiles-14-years-ramsi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/saving-solomon-islands-crocodiles-14-years-ramsi\/","title":{"rendered":"Saving Solomon Islands from crocodiles: 14 years of RAMSI"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In 2003, Solomon Islands stared into a national abyss\u2014confronting ethnic conflict and state failure. The Melanesian nation appealed for help, prompting the largest, longest and most ambitious security effort ever mounted by the Pacific Islands Forum: RAMSI, the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands.<\/p>\n

Led and largely financed by Australia, RAMSI forces started to arrive in Honiara on July 24, 2003. After 14 years, RAMSI will conclude on June 30, 2017. \u00a0The price tag for the operation is close to $3 billion, most of it paid by Australia.<\/p>\n

What did the Solomons, the Pacific and Australia get for $3 billion and 14 years? The official answer can come simultaneously from Australia and RAMSI, because RAMSI\u2019s Special Coordinator has always been an Australian.<\/p>\n

The final RAMSI Coordinator is Quinton Devlin and this column is based on his thoughts about the mission and its meaning (here’s the ASPI video interview<\/a>). He argues that RAMSI must be judged a \u2018genuine success\u2019 because of the size of the political and community disaster that Solomon Islands has avoided.<\/p>\n

RAMSI, he says, \u2018put an end to a dire humanitarian situation on Australia\u2019s doorstep and reversed the decline of a disintegrating nation that threatened security and stability in the broader Pacific region. RAMSI halted Solomon Islands\u2019 descent into lawlessness and towards economic collapse and state failure\u2019.<\/p>\n

But the criticisms of RAMSI are as big as its claimed achievements. The Mission was attacked as an \u2018emerging parallel state\u2019, for encroaching on Solomon Islands\u2019 sovereignty, for heavy-handedness and \u2018mission creep\u2019.<\/p>\n

Devlin\u2019s response is that frequently \u2018criticisms came from the political class in Solomon Islands, which in some quarters resisted RAMSI\u2019s suggested good governance and financial reforms, and in others, weren\u2019t happy that RAMSI was involved in the investigation and arrests of MPs\u2019.<\/p>\n

The Special Coordinator says the long foreign intervention enjoyed remarkable support from Solomon Islanders. Surveys conducted from 2006 to 2013 showed that popular support for RAMSI never dropped below 85%.<\/p>\n

The big bill and the long stay reflect the ambition and scope of the original mandate agreed by Solomon Islands and the Forum, calling for state building, not just stabilisation:<\/p>\n