AUCKLAND -- A 14-year peacekeeping mission involving 15 countries is to end this month in the Solomon Islands, but concerns are rising that the $2.1 billion effort has failed to establish political stability.
Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare told the United Nations Peacebuilding Commission in New York on June 7 that the peacekeepers' departure is creating "uncertainty and anxiety." Sogavare requested that the U.N. step in when the Australian-led Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI) wraps up on June 30.
