‘Elements in the government have been quick to blame Australia for most of the domestic opposition. Those accusations—whether well founded or not—will likely be repeated in the weeks to come as Sogavare braces for the no-confidence motion.'


Though both the Solomon Islands and the Australian governments have repeatedly insisted their bilateral relations and the Australian-led Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI) have not affected each other, recent events betray an undercurrent of discontent and it is only a question of time when it will begin to show.

Relations between the two neighbours have never been smooth for the better part of the four years since RAMSI’s 2003 intervention in the Solomon Islands to put an end to years of lawlessness that drained the country’s coffers and brought its economy nearly to a halt.

It has been particularly bumpy in the last one year after Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare’s government came to power following the Honiara riots that reduced its Chinatown quarter to cinders and caught RAMSI’s policing contingent almost completely unawares.

As it is, Australia’s overwhelming involvement in RAMSI—both in terms of the financial resources it has committed and the sheer quantum of personnel—makes it easy to see it as a completely Australian enterprise, which it is not.

In many ways, it is a unique regional cooperative effort involving nearly all the Pacific islands countries including New Zealand who are involved not only in peacekeeping but also rebuilding a nation. After its early peacekeeping activities in which it successfully disarmed looters and outlaws across the nation, it has involved itself in rebuilding its institutions and at the same time training its citizens to run them.

RAMSI’s success in this regard has been excellent and recognised by international organisations engaged in similar activities in other troubled places in different parts of the world.

Among many other notable successes, the country’s revenue system has seen a revamp with the progressive expansion of the tax net and a compliance rate that is getting better over time.

Its civilian initiatives in institution building are also creating capacity, opening up new opportunities for qualified young Solomon Islanders to run them efficiently. There is undoubtedly a groundswell of support for the regional initiative among communities from across the archipelago.

Most politicians and bureaucrats acknowledge their country needs RAMSI. But there are some elements who have begun stirring up the pot raising questions about how long it will remain and its exit plan. As of now, the regional initiative has no exit plan, though a timeframe of ten years had been talked about when it began operations in 2003.

But the Solomon Islands government’s relationship with RAMSI’s biggest contributor, Australia, has been going downhill for a while now. Last year, the government declared Australia’s envoy persona non grata for what it saw as interference in the country’s sovereign affairs. Australia retaliated with a travel ban.

The Solomons government also sacked the Australian Police Commissioner, Shane Castles, who it thought gave orders for a search of the Prime Minister’s offices to look for documents it was after, among other things. These incidents have brought in a climate of increasing mistrust between the two governments which is beginning to rub on the regional mission.

Yet, nothing has contributed to the worsening of the relationship between the two nations than one single factor—or man—to be more specific—controversial lawyer Julian Moti. His appointment as the country’s Attorney-General last month has the potential to grow into another diplomatic crisis.

In the coming weeks, Australia will continue to pressing for his extradition to enable his trial in its own court system for alleged sexual offences in Vanuatu about a decade ago. The Solomon Islands government, at least as long as Sogavare heads it, will continue to ignore that request and the newly appointed Attorney-General himself may well quash the extradition request using his powers.

Meanwhile, domestic protests against Moti’s appointment as well as that of the new police chief from Fiji that was made against RAMSI’s advice, are ballooning and promise tense times for Sogavare’s leadership. Also against RAMSI’s advice, the government heeded the new police chief’s advice to arm sections of the police force—another development that is being fiercely opposed by Sogavare’s detractors.

Opposition to the government’s recent actions is growing: the case where big money was allegedly used to lure at least one MP to cross the floor has grabbed the headlines.

Elements in the government have been quick to blame Australia for most of the domestic opposition, much as Fiji’s interim government had blamed ‘external forces’ for the NGOs’ early protests after it seized power last year. Those accusations—whether well founded or not—will likely be repeated in the weeks to come as Sogavare braces for the no-confidence motion called by the Opposition when parliament opens early this month.

What’s more, last month a finding by a Papua New Guinea Defence Force enquiry into Moti’s flight indicted both Sir Michael Somare and Sogavare as being in cahoots in facilitating his escape from PNG to the Solomons.

As if levelling the score, a Solomon Islands enquiry report probing last year’s Honiara riots that followed the election blamed RAMSI’s poor preparedness to quell rampaging mobs for the large scale arson and destruction in the Chinese business district.

This PNG enquiry report will only embolden Australia to step up diplomatic pressure on the Solomons’ administration–and if Sogavare indeed manages to tide over the no confidence motion against his government in early August, his stand against Australia is bound to harden.

The danger in all this is that a worsening of bilateral and diplomatic relationship between the two countries will cause the existing distinction between Australia and RAMSI to increasingly turn into a grey area—mainly from the point of view of the Solomons government: RAMSI and Australia will be viewed as one.

Should that distinction be wiped out, it could well pave the way for the early exit of the regional initiative—something that would be extremely unfortunate not just for the Solomon Islands people but the whole region as well; not to mention the cost and effort expended in bringing that country back from the brink.