Fed: Solomons mission quiet and successful until now

AAP General News (Australia)
12-22-2004
Fed: Solomons mission quiet and successful until now

By Max Blenkin, Defence Correspondent

CANBERRA, Dec 22 AAP - Until this week, not a single shot had been fired in anger in
a nation-building mission which featured a potentially volatile mix of well-armed international
police and soldiers and a bunch of ragtag militants and bandits equipped with military
weapons.

That ended tragically when Australian Protective Service officer Adam Dunning, 26,
was shot dead during a routine vehicle patrol through the Solomons Island capital of Honiara.

The circumstances remain unclear but it appears he was hit by two of a series of shots
fired by an unknown sniper, most likely armed with a high powered Self Loading Rifle (SLR).

This is the weapon carried by Australian troops in Vietnam.

Significant numbers of SLRs and other military arms were looted from Solomons police
armouries, fuelling the five years of unrest which drove the nation to the brink of collapse
and prompted the intervention by the Australian-led Regional Assistance Mission to the
Solomons Island (RAMSI) operation in July last year.

Until then, the otherwise idyllic Pacific island group was set to join Somalia as one
of the world's genuine failed states - courtesy of a debilitating combination of tribal
rivalries, inept governance and corrupt administration.

The result was an almost total lack of law and order which allowed warlords, bandits
and rogue police to murder and pillage with impunity.

Schools, hospitals and businesses were struggling, the government was practically broke
and the country's economy had contracted four years in a row.

The Solomons government invited the RAMSI intervention which marked a significant Australian
policy shift, with the government declaring it in the national interest to intervene to
assist struggling neighbours.

That's reflected in the current program to assist PNG.

The first RAMSI troops and police landed on July 24 last year.

Despite dire predictions of a guerrilla war, there were no such problems. The bandits
and militants simply melted away, the Solomons people overwhelmingly welcoming the intervention.

An early priority involved ridding the nation of the large number of guns. In all,
RAMSI seized 3,730 firearms, many handed over in well-attended community ceremonies where
RAMSI officials wielded power saws to destroy them on the spot.

A defining moment in the operation came 20 days into the mission with the surrender
of murderous militant Harold Keke and some of his lieutenants.

While Keke remained at large, his turf remained a virtual no-go area and it's questionable
if many islanders would have willingly surrendered their guns had he remained on the loose.

Keke is now among more than 4,000 islanders who have been arrested and charged with
offences committed over the previous years.

From more than 2,000 soldiers and police at the start, RAMSI has now dwindled to a
mostly police and civilian force focused on development. There are now some 150 Australian
police on the island and under 100 soldiers.

The mission has been broadly hailed as an outstanding success and has now settled down
to the low key job of nation building and improving governance, assisted by Australian
aid.

One key job is rebuilding the Royal Solomons Islands Police who until the arrival of
RAMSI contributed significantly to the nation's problems.

That was amply demonstrated by RAMSI's arrest of more than 70 police who have been
charged with offences including murder, assault, corruption and robbery. Another 400 have
been retired.

Australian and other advisers are now helping the Solomons government improve their
budgetary performances and tax collection while lawyers and legal advisers are assisting
to improve the country's justice system.

AAP mb/sw/cjh/

KEYWORD: SOLOMONS AUST RAMSI BACKGROUNDER

2004 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.