Presentation by Graeme Wilson – RAMSI Special Coordinator (2009-2011) to the Australian Civil-military Centre hosted United Nations Permanent Representatives Seminar held in Canberra 22 March 2012

1. Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding Missions - RAMSI - Lessons Learned
Graeme Wilson – RAMSI Special Coordinator (2009-2011)
Introduction
It is a great pleasure to be here with such a distinguished and diverse group
of UN Permanent Representatives and to have the opportunity to discuss a
subject that I think is dear to all our hearts given its importance to
international peace and stability, and given the debates in the UN Security
Council on peacekeeping and the 2011 World Bank report on Conflict,
Security and Development.
I would particularly like to acknowledge the Permanent Representatives
from Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and Timor Leste whose insights
will I’m sure make a significant contribution to our discussions today on the
lessons that can be learned from peacekeeping and peacebuilding
operations in this part of the world.
My focus will be on the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands
(RAMSI) which I had the honour of leading from 2009 to 2011 and which UN
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon visited in September last year.
Hopefully, it will be of interest to you all to hear about a mission that is
regarded internationally as very successful, despite the ups and downs over
the past eight or nine years, and that is currently going through a transition
phase involving close consultation with the Solomon Islands Government
before RAMSI’s exit at some point in the coming years. Ban Ki-moon
indicated during his visit to Solomon Islands that RAMSI’s evolution and
transition might offer good lessons for others.
In my brief presentation, I will provide a quick snapshot of RAMSI – what it
is, how it has evolved, where it is at now – before talking about the lessons
learned from Australia’s experience with RAMSI, including what has worked
that might be applicable elsewhere in the world.
Mandate and Evolution of RAMSI
Just a few of words of context then. Solomon Islands is part of Melanesia,
an area in the South Pacific of extraordinary complexity, diversity and
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2. challenges. In the years 1998-2003, Solomon Islands experienced a period
of serious ethnic tension that resulted in violence, lawlessness, economic
decline and a dramatic drop in service delivery. In the face of this dire
situation, the Solomon Islands Government and the 15 other member
countries of the peak regional political organisation, the Pacific Islands
Forum, agreed to form RAMSI to try to rescue the country from the brink of
disaster.
Importantly, from its beginning, RAMSI was a multi-disciplinary, integrated
mission involving civilian, police and military components. The mission was
headed by an experienced Australian diplomat but the security operation
was police-led with strong support from the military. While the initial focus
was on restoring security, backed by a large military force, RAMSI civilian
advisers also began working in the Ministry of Finance and Treasury within
days of the arrival of the RAMSI Participating Police Force and Military. In
other words, from the earliest stages, peacebuilding tasks were incorporated
into the peacekeeping role of RAMSI and the focus on security was not at
the expense of institution strengthening.
Just as importantly, from the start, the problem was addressed on a
regional basis. The RAMSI initiative was adopted under the auspices of the
Pacific Islands Forum, and more specifically under the Forum’s Biketawa
Declaration that allowed for collective, regional action in response to a
security crisis in a member state where that member state sought
assistance. RAMSI arrived in Solomon Islands in July 2003 at the invitation
of the Solomon Islands Government. While funded by Australia and New
Zealand, RAMSI had broad regional membership and its work was
oversighted by the Pacific Islands Forum. Importantly, RAMSI was also
commended by the UN Secretary General and welcomed by the President of
the UN Security Council.
In addition to having regional and international endorsement, RAMSI
needed appropriate and unassailable legal cover to operate effectively. The
passing of the RAMSI Treaty by Pacific Islands Forum states and enabling
domestic legislation, the Facilitation of International Assistance Act, by the
Solomon Islands Parliament, paved the way for RAMSI’s deployment.
From the outset, RAMSI had both a short-term and long-term mandate. Its
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3. short-term mandate was to restore law and order throughout the country
and to stabilise government finances. Its longer-term mandate was to
promote economic recovery by creating the conditions for broad-based
economic growth; and to rebuild the machinery of government, including by
promoting transparent and accountable governance and by supporting
efforts to reduce corruption.
In the early stages of RAMSI’s deployment, thousands of guns were removed
and there were numerous high-level arrests, the police force was
reconstituted, finances were brought under control and national budgets
balanced. RAMSI’s short-term mandate was thus achieved in rapid and
quite spectacular fashion.
RAMSI has been in the longer-term phase of its mission for a number of
years now and it is difficult, incremental work as it involves building
capacity and promoting sustainable outcomes. Police and civilians from
Australia, New Zealand and across the region have been working with their
Solomon Islands’ counterparts to help the country progress. This work is
taken forward under a Partnership Framework that was painstakingly
negotiated with the Solomon Islands Government and finalised in 2009. The
Framework is like a strategic work plan to guide RAMSI’s assistance to
Solomon Islands and is a very important document as it provides a clear,
structured way forward, guards against “mandate creep”, contains rigorous
and independent performance review provisions and serves as the basis of a
flexible “exit strategy” for RAMSI.
RAMSI is currently in a sensitive transition phase that involves a planned
process of handing over of responsibility. This includes its development
assistance programs where RAMSI’s work on institution strengthening will
be reinforced and increasingly subsumed by traditonal donor partners, and
policing where the focus will shift from supporting front-line policing to
capacity development of the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force. For the
military contingent, transition will in due course involve their withdrawal
but no decisions have been made on this yet. RAMSI was always envisaged
as a finite mission but there is no pre-determined end date and RAMSI’s
transition will continue to be implemented in a steady and measured way, in
consultation with all stakeholders. In November 2011, the Solomon Islands
Government approved the gradual transition of RAMSI and mandated a
National Working Group to work with RAMSI on the transition process.
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4. Lessons Learned
What lessons can we learn then from RAMSI’s experience and evolution that
might be useful for other peace-building missions?
There is no doubt that timing is important as is having a clear mandate
(that includes longer-term peacebuilding issues from the outset), watertight
international and domestic legal coverage, and sufficient resourcing.
RAMSI’s work is a classic reflection of the proposition that without security,
you cannot have development; and without development, it is very difficult
to maintain security. Having an integrated mission that includes civilian,
police and military elements, and that successfully addresses both the
security and development needs of a host population can be extremely
effective and can build significant credibility in the eyes of the local
population. While not the only possible solution, an integrated mission is
generally more flexible and nimble, and can deploy resources and respond
more quickly to emerging challenges. An integrated leadership structure is
better able to pursue and implement an overarching strategy. In situations
in which one body is mandated to provide security and other bodies are
mandated to look after development, it is harder to ensure coherence and
adherence to an overall strategy.
Having an integrated mission does not, however, guarantee success.
Integrated missions need to have the right leadership structure and
approach, and to ensure coordination works in practice. Civilians, police
and military all come from different backgrounds and have different
institutional cultures. There needs to be a conscious and sustained effort to
communicate regularly and honestly, and to promote mutual understanding
among the various parts of an integrated mission, including on objectives
and ways of working. While essential, this is not always easy. Collaborative
leadership and effective coordination are paramount. It is for good reason
that the head of RAMSI is called the Special Coordinator!
Another critical feature of successful peacebuilding operations in our part of
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5. the world has been regional participation. RAMSI’s regional nature has
underpinned its success. Every member of the Pacific Islands Forum
participates in RAMSI. In addition, the Pacific Islands Forum provides a
broad governance oversight mechanism for RAMSI’s work. RAMSI reports
annually to the Pacific Islands Forum through a Forum Ministerial Standing
Committee while the day to day work of RAMSI is overseen by a body called
the Triumvirate comprising the RAMSI Special Coordinator, the Solomon
Islands Permanent Secretary responsible for RAMSI and the Pacific Islands
Forum representative. Regional participation works because it provides for
burden sharing and the pooling of different skills. More importantly, it can
boost the legitimacy of the mission in the eyes of the host population and
promote regional solidarity and “south-south cooperation”. Pacific island
countries are rightly proud of their contribution to RAMSI.
A further essential feature of successful peacebuilding missions is
supporting national ownership and leadership. For outcomes to be
sustainable, a peacebuilding mission must foster capacities of the host
government and align support with national priorities. RAMSI has supported
successive Solomon Islands Governments to deliver an improved security
environment, to strengthen the institutions of state and to provide the
economic governance framework for better development and service delivery
outcomes. The Solomon Islands Government-RAMSI Partnership
Framework is a strong example of deliberate alignment with national
priorities, within the parameters of RAMSI’s mandate.
Individual missions must also tailor their approach to the needs and
expectations of the local population. And host populations need to see
evidence of genuine commitment on the part of intervention missions.
Commitment is demonstrated, and credibility is won, as the peacebuilding
mission works in partnership with the local leadership, takes the host
population into its confidence, and demonstrates results that change things
for the better. Regular communication with ordinary people has been an
important part of this process in Solomon Islands, and RAMSI has
progressively given more attention to cultural awareness and community
outreach and engagement.
The political environment in the host country clearly has a major impact on
the ability of a mission to do its work. I would like to commend successive
Solomon Islands Governments over recent years for their willingness to
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6. make the partnership with RAMSI a genuine one that has stood the test of
time.
The shift in focus from immediate stabilisation of security towards longer-
term peacebuilding and development, and then a phased transition of
responsibility requires adaptability and persistence. In the case of RAMSI,
the key to a successful transition will be maintaining confidence in the
security environment and in the management of the economy, and
sustaining and improving the capacity of Solomon Islands to take the lead.
In summary, I think that Australia’s experience with RAMSI, and the
genuine partnership it has developed with the Solomon Islands Government
and people, provides some potentially valuable lessons for other
peacebuilding missions, at least in terms of broad principles as no two
missions are the same. I look forward to hearing the views and experiences
of others in this room as this is very much an area where we can all learn
from each other.
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