Solomon Islands and Australia negotiating a treaty for intervention in major security crisis

AUSTRALIA is negotiating a treaty with Solomon Islands in what is described as “significant move” on the eve of the departure of the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI).

This was disclosed in an article written by Australia’s former High Commissioner to Solomon Islands, James Batley, also a one-time Special Coordinator of the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands from 2004-2006.

Details are sketchy but Mr Batley said the treaty would allow Australia to provide assistance when there is a major security crisis in the future in Solomon Islands.

“After RAMSI departs, Australia will still provide extensive advisory and training assistance to the RSIPF, although Australian police advisers will no longer enjoy direct policing power.

“In a significant move, Australia is negotiating a treaty with Solomon Islands which would allow Australia to provide assistance ‘in the case of a major security crisis in the future’.

“As RAMSI draws to a close, Solomon Islanders will hope that such assistance is never again required. But they can be assured that it will be available,” Mr Batley said.

Mr Batley is a Distinguished Policy Fellow at the State, Society and Governance in Melanesia Program at the ANU.

Writing in The Strategist, the voice of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, Mr Batley said some level of nervousness was only natural after such a long intervention, adding there is no doubt “RAMSI is leaving Solomon Islands better equipped to manage the many challenges it continues to face.”

“The arrest in April this year of a government minister on corruption charges must go at least some way to countering perceptions of impunity among Solomon Islands political class,” he said.

“At the same time, it isn’t hard to meet impressive young and emerging leaders in many walks of life. Beyond government, we shouldn’t forget the critical role played by local institutions, and in particular the churches, in providing structure to people’s lives and indeed in delivering services that the state can’t provide,” Mr Batley said.

Members of RAMSI who are still here will depart Solomon Islands on June 30 this year – 14 years to the day they set foot on Solomon Islands’ soil.