So What Now For The Solomon Islands?

Nick Warner...head of the Australian-led Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands.

2004 will be a year of national repair and reconstruction for the Solomon Islands.

By the end of 2003, the country lay calm and orderly under the friendly reign of RAMSI, the Australian-led Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands, which arrived on July 24, with the full assent of the government, to repair the social, economic and political damage of two years of civil war that turned into terror, intimidation, extortion and plunder by armed gangsters the government couldn't cope with. Some of the gangsters became part of the government.

In December, Islands Business spoke to Nick Warner, the Australian head of RAMSI, and Ben McDevitt, the Australian Federal Officer, who is now deputy commissioner of what became one of the country's greatest handicaps, the Solomon Islands police force.

The question was: What shape will the Solomon Islands be at the end of 2004? Here is an edited version of the conversation at the police headquarters at Rove, Honiara.

Warner: "We came with two objectives, firstly, to restore law and order so we could undertake the second objective of nation-building. It's very calm and peaceful now."

On the arrest of gang leaders:

McDevitt: "What you've got left are lower level people who have been engaged in criminality. All the high profile militants have now been arrested, the latest one being Andrew Te'e, the head of the Isatabu Freedom Movement." Warner: "It is important to emphasise that we are not targeting groups. We are targeting individuals who have been engaged in criminal activities." McDevitt: Next year (2004), there will be a lot of cases going through the High Court. Things have gone tremendously well in the four and a half months that we have been here.

"You asked how long we would be here; it is difficult because it is a government thing. But certainly in terms of policing, we have broken it into phases of commencement, consolidation, sustainability and self-reliance. Presumably, it will be the same everywhere."

Ben McDevitt...Solomons' deputy police chief.

On the police force by December 2004:

McDevitt: When we first got here, it was very difficult to know how big the police force was. There were a lot of ghost employees, a lot of people who had not turned up for years. It's only in recent weeks that we've determined who is actually on the payroll, and that is about 1147. Since we have been here, we have arrested and charged 38, including a number of officers at superintendent and inspector level. They are all charged with really serious offences.

From January I, there will no longer be a 240 strong para-military Star division. There will be an operational support unit of 66; its role and function will change from armed response to search and rescue and that sort of thing.

We are also using the disciplinary regime to remove about 60, that's already underway, and there's quite a few more to go. When we arrived, there were 317 special constables. By January 1, there will be zero They are essentially ex-militia who were made police officers. We are going through a very public cleansing programme. Probably 50 % of the people who were in the police force when we arrived on July 24 won't be.

We need to look at what we want the police to perform for the Solomon Islands and where do we need the people to actually do that. 70 % of the police force is at Honiara. We want to redistribute those people across the provinces. We have 16 main police posts established Honiara. They will have the very best of communications, high-powered boats, vehicles and computers; all the equipment a modern police station needs.

"We are starting a recruiting campaign and making the force harder to get into and easier to get out of. We've advertised in Australia for a new head of (the police) college. Police who graduate will get a diploma in policing. It will take them two years to get."

On illegal guns:

McDevitt: "Have we got them all? One indicator is in the four and half months we've been here not a shot's been fired. Secondly, no firearm offence has been reported; that's really significant. There has not been an armed robbery; there's not been a threat with a gun, no one has been shot or an assault with a firearm or anything. Three thousand seven hundred and twelve (guns surrendered) is actually a higher number than a number of assessments available to us before we got here."

On rounding up rascals:

McDevitt: "We've literally got some of the best investigators in the AFP (Australian Federal Police) who worked on the Bali bombings and drug investigations. What also helps is the overwhelming welcome and desire (for peace) here; we've got no shortage of victims and witnesses coming forward." Warner: "The third very important factor was the very large military force deployed; at its peak we had 2000 military, one major and five small war vessels and eight helicopters and a couple of Caribou. That got the attention of the people."

On repairing government, the economy:

Warner: "We've been more successful more quickly than we thought we would be, so after four and half months we are further advanced than we thought we would be. We knew we would get overwhelming popular support but we were not sure how some people would respond to us. But the job is nothing like over. It is just beginning. We've laid the foundations so that next year (2004) we can really get into the real work. At this stage we have about 80 civilians as part of RAMSI. 16 or 17 are in the ministry of finance, another 31 are in the prison system and the rest are in various parts of the judicial system. We will increase the number of civilians and number of departments and agencies they are involved in."

On private investment prospects:

Warner: "RAMSI has already created an environment in which investment will come back. We are already hearing about it. People are coming in to look at building hotels, looking at palm oil, Gold Ridge. You can see people sniffing around at the edges. What we will do next year (2004) is look at the regulatory environment and make it more attractive for business. We will continue to move in on corruption. We have a team coming in next week (in December) and another large team coming in February to look at corruption and existing institutions to prevent it like the leadership code and the ombudsman. Removing corruption will obviously make the Solomon Islands a more attractive destination for good strong solid investment."

On how long RAMSI will be around:

Warner: "Well, several years. If you look at the nation building aspects, I think it will take some years. The question is how long do you keep RAMSI in charge of that process, because at some stage and I don't know when you will inevitably move from a regional assistance mission back to bilateral aid programmes. That might happens in a year or two or three; it all depends. In June our mandate will be reviewed."