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 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

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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 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.

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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.

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.

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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 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.

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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 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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