PRIME Minister Hon Manasseh Sogavare has reaffirmed his Government and people’s commitment to build and maintain peace both in the country and globally.

The Prime Minister made the statement during the special session of the United Nations Peace Building Commission (UN PBC) in New York on Wednesday this week.

The session was convened by the UN PBC Chair, His Excellency Cho Tae-yul upon the request of the Prime Minister.

This request was to present the case of Solomon Islands as a post-conflict country, the peace building process it is pursuing and the challenges ahead in a bid to secure funding assistance from the UN Peace Building Fund towards ensuring lasting peace in Solomon Islands.

“I have travelled three days to come to New York, in order to have this audience with you, and to reaffirm my Government and our people’s commitment to build and maintain peace, both at home and globally.

“This is particularly poignant given the recent violence in London and Manchester in Great Britain.

“The people of Solomon Islands join peace-loving citizens of our global community in condemning such violence.

“We reiterate our commitment to peace. Chair, Solomon Islands has experienced conflicts.

“Given that experience, we are committed to ensuring that our country does slide back into conflict.

“As Prime Minister, I am personally committed to this.

“I am aware that countries, such as Solomon Islands, that have had violent conflicts, continue to suffer from the impacts long after the conflict is ‘officially’ over,” said Prime Minister Sogavare.

This, he added, is because conflicts weaken, and in some cases destroy, institutions, infrastructure, and relationships.

Consequently, conflicts reduce opportunities and retard development, contributing to poverty and weakening the country’s ability to recover.

As a result, the Prime Minister Hon Manasseh Sogavare added, the task of rebuilding communities and nation-states after conflicts is daunting because of the combination of institutional, infrastructural, social and economic factors that need to be taken into consideration.

Post-conflict development, Sogavare admitted, is financially expensive, socially sensitive, and relies on a fragile peace that could easily degenerate into conflict.

“It is therefore not surprising that post-conflict societies often experience a recurrence of violence not long after the initial conflict has been resolved.

“Solomon Islands commitment to maintain peace is shared by our neighboring Pacific Island Countries, especially the members of the Pacific Islands Forum.

“This is demonstrated by the fact that they responded to our call for assistance by deploying the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands, fondly known as RAMSI, in July 2003.

The Prime Minister then further added that since the RAMSI intervention, Solomon Islands has achieved a lot in post-conflict rehabilitation and admitted that there are still many challenges ahead.