Australian-led police are accused of undermining the peace process in the Solomon Islands after raiding a village and discharging weapons.
The country is still recovering from a brutal ethnic conflict that ended 10 years ago when Australian-led peacekeepers arrived.
The mission's good work is being undone by what some see as a heavy-handed approach.
In May, about 10 heavily armed Australian-led police raided Fauabu in the Solomon Islands province of Malaita.
"From here the commander shouted 'Take your stand' and some ran this and come around the front of this house," says Fauabu village pastor Paul Kwana.
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"They come from this direction. They begin from where our local toilet is, because they don't know that place, and they come into the village."
Paul Kwana recounts the raid, standing in the middle of a huddle of timber and leaf houses that is Fauabu.
"They arrive at 5.30 am, early in the morning. Some (people are) awake and they sit at the front of the house, they see soldiers walking through," he says.
"They feared and some ran into the house and some run away because they fear these are soldier, these are armies."
The quarry is Edmund Sae, a former-police sergeant and alleged double murderer.
He has been on the run in the jungles of Malaita for a decade, after first giving himself up and then escaping from custody in 2003.
For a decade there has been relative peace in the Solomons after the five-year ethnic conflict known as "the tensions".
About 200 lives were lost and thousands of Malaitans left displaced.
Chair of the Malaita Peace Council and the deputy provincial premier is Alick Maeaba.
The raid occurred in his electorate.
"It's really a big slap in the face of the peace process because that's the kind of thing we get during the ethnic tensions, okay, that's the only time people see rifles, heavy military weapons marched through villages," says Alick Maeaba.
"So when RAMSI here and they help Solomon Island Police put peace and law and order together and people are trying to come back to normalcy, and it happens again, it reminds them again to the ethnic tension days."
About 100 Australian Federal Police are in the Solomon islands as part of a peacekeeping operation known as the Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSi).
The local police are widely distrusted and were disarmed 10 years ago after their partisan role in the conflict.
The AFP are there to help rebuild the force and also as a back up, with the heavy weaponry.
"Edmund Sae is wanted for the murder of a commissioner of the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force, who was murdered in cold blood, in a restaurant in the city of Auki," says Australian Department of Foreign Affairs official and RAMSI co-ordinator Nicholas Coppel.
"It is a most serious offence, his continued evasion from capture is an important matter, is one which we take very seriously, and we are determined to recapture him."
Deputy premier and peace council chair Alick Maeaba took SBS to the village, up a long, steep and muddy jungle track.
"They fired this tear gas into this house and as a result, some clothing and bed sheets are there, and they are burnt, all these clothing materials," he says.
In the little hut sits a woman, craddling her child.
"The child was really suffocated because of the poisonous gas and admitted to hospital, he has suffered until now and has a breathing problem," Alick Maeaba translates for the woman.
Pastor Paul Kwana shows more evidence of the raid, the handle of a stun grenade.
"This is the clip of the gas, the clip of the gas that's been thrown into the house. I collected them as evidence of what RAMSI did, the soldiers," he says.
The villagers also say shots were fired, a claim denied by RAMSI.
"There were a number of distraction devices that were used but no bullets were fired, nothing that would cause harm to individuals," says co-ordinator Nicholas Coppel.
"I won't go into the details of operation procedure, simply to say that we had information about where he was staying and we proceeded to that location to recapture him, and unfortunately he got away just very immediately before our arrival."
RAMSI would not supply SBS with a mugshot of Edmund Sae.
Not only did they fail to recapture him, Pastor Paul Kwana says the raid destroyed any faith the villagers have in RAMSI.
"Maybe in other ways RAMSI doing, maybe doing good, but in the other ways, like they are doing with us, we feel frightening fear," he says.
RAMSI co-ordinator Nicholas Coppel believes it is Edmund Sae who is causing the fear, but admits he is thought to be on his own, without any followers.
"Many communities are in fear of Edmund Sae, he's committed a very serious offence, he's believed to possess a firearm, they are frightened and very careful about what they do," he says.
It is a view at odds with Gordon Darcy Lilo, the prime minister of a nation still trying to reconcile its violent past.
"Edmund has pretty much got himself back into society, the people on the ground. I've heard he has been well absorbed back into the society, he hasn't been threatening anybody yet," says the Gordon Darcy Lilo.
"There is now more important things for him to do in preparing his own people and society to live a better life, until such time until he himself decides that he must give himself but as it is right now he remains a fugitive."
Gordon Darcy Lilo declines to answer if he was consulted about the raid or if he is supportive of the way the Australian Federal Police have handled the Edmund Sae case.
"Well the operations of the police are always kept very confidential, because these are national security issues," he says.
"These are police operations, matters of daily operation of the police force rest with the commissioner of police, not with the prime minister."
Fauabu's village chief Kemuel Kalani is related of Edmund Sae.
His house was also a target of the raid but denies the village is helping him.
"I knew him so he is a blood relative but in any way I harbour him, it is not," deputy premier Alick Maeaba translates for the chief.
"hey don't in any way harbour him or help him escape police, he's on his own business, it's nothing to do with the village here. These people mind their own business, going about their normal business."
RAMSI co-ordinator Nicholas Coppel does not think the raid has undermined confidence in the Australian-led mission.
"Not at all and we will take all reasonable measures to get him and bring him to justice," he sayd.
"That's what the community expects of us, that's what the Solomon Islands government expects of us.
"We're here to support the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force, if they had complete ability to do all police activities, we would not be here, so by definition, RAMSI is still needed in the Solomon Islands."
Back in the Malaita provincial government office, Alick Maeaba reflects on the Fauabu raid.
"Now for example, the incident that happened in Fauabu, if the RAMSI police like to rehabilitate the law and order and if they approached in the wrong direction, that would be very disastrous," he says.
"Because of this the peace process in Malaita is very fragile at this point in time. After all you are here as RAMSI to help friends, Helpim Fren, and if you are not fulfilling you're aim or role, then you are not doing Helpim Fren at all.
For an extended, in-depth report from Stefan, listen to the audio link above.
