THE REGIONAL ASSISTANCE MISSION TO THE SOLOMON ISLANDS
* Australian-led peacekeeping mission involving 15 countries to restore law and order that spanned 14 years from July, 2003.
* The Pacific Island nation was plagued with lawlessness, gang violence and ethnic tensions between people from the provinces of Guadalcanal and Malaita. At least 200 people had been killed, 18,000 Malaitans displaced and thousands more on Guadalcanal.
* Public institutions were in crisis. For example, prison officers had opened the jail doors and walked off.
* RAMSI also helped stabilise government finances, start economic recovery and rebuild institutions such as the national parliament, public service and electoral body.
IN NUMBERS
* 7200 Australian military personnel and more than 1700 Australian Federal Police served under the mission, alongside troops from New Zealand, Tonga and Papua New Guinea.
* A gun amnesty recovered more than 3700 illegal weapons.
* RAMSI made 6300 arrests for militant and criminal activity, representing over one per cent of the population and including more than 130 police officers in its first three years.
* Australia paid 95 per cent of the cost, an estimated $2.8 billion.
CONTROVERSIES
* Former Solomon Islands attorney-general Julian Moti was deported to Australia to face child sex charges in 2007. The Australian High Court later ruled the deportation was illegal and the charges should be dropped.
* Eight AFP officers were injured in violent protests over the the 2006 election of Snyder Rini which his opponents claimed was rigged. Rini later resigned as prime minister and was replaced by Manasseh Sogavare.
* At least six international officers died serving under RAMSI, including Australian Protective Service officer Adam Dunning, 26, who was shot twice in the back on a night patrol in Honiara.
WHAT NEXT?
* The May federal budget allocated $79 million over four years to a police development program.
* Australia's aid budget to the Solomon Islands for 2017-18 is $92.7 million.
ABOUT THE SOLOMON ISLANDS
* Population about 600,000 on 1000 islands.
* Ranks 156/192 on the UN Human Development Index.
* Rates of violence against women are among the highest in the world. An estimated two-thirds of women aged 15-49 have experienced physical or sexual violence.
* GDP of $A2,644 per capita is among the lowest in the Pacific.
(Sources: Lowy Institute Jenny Hayward-Jones, ASPI, Development Policy Centre, DFAT, Defence, RAMSI special coordinator Quinton Devlin)
