Debating Ten Years of RAMSI: Reflections on the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands

RAMSI, the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands, is the regional policing, peace-keeping and development mission which arrived in Solomon Islands (SI) in 2003 in response to the countrys civil conflict. Nominally it has involved contributions from 15 Pacific countries, although in practice material input has predominantly come from Australia and, to a lesser extent, New Zealand. 2013 marked the tenth anniversary of RAMSI. It was also a year of transition, in which the military component of RAMSI was concluded, and its development functions spun off to bilateral aid programs. RAMSI has thus shrunk to primarily a policing mission.