Sustainable peace

High-level nation-building efforts seem unlikely to bring durable peace at village level, at least until local reconciliation processes are respected and integrated into wider reconstruction efforts. A question many Solomon Islanders ask is, "What will happen if RAMSI [the Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands] eventually leaves?" In a survey conducted in 2010, some 84 percent of respondents backed the presence of RAMSI, mostly attributing their support to the likelihood that, if the mission were to leave, there would be a breakdown in law and order. As if to underline these risks, when a new prime minister was elected by parliament on 16 November 2011, the result was met with mixed reactions from the public. A violent protest in Honiara claimed to represent the people's wish for the immediate resignation of the newly elected premier. The demonstrations suggest that a sustainable peace in the Solomon Islands still remains a mission to be accomplished. RAMSI's mandate focuses on maintaining law and order and a state-focused system that concentrates on bolstering the mechanisms of the government departments. While these approaches are necessary, a more organic, community-driven system that concentrates on healing tensions and bolstering intra-community relations as a tenet for sustainable peace needs to be supported.