Solomon Islands Foreign Minister Peter Shanel is hopeful the country will be able to cope as the Ramsi forces gradually withdraw, but the departures must be slow and careful.
The Ramsi (Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands) forces, charged with maintaining security, have begun to pull back their involvement in the security monitoring group, which has been in the country since 2003.
Australia's Defence Minister Stephen Smith has given a tentative timeframe of five years to wrap up the mission, but New Zealand's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Murray McCully, said there was no deadline in mind.
But the Solomon Star reported that a confidential briefing to a United States delegation warned ethnic violence could flare up within days of Ramsi leaving and it would take from 10 to 15 years to achieve stability.
Mr Shanel expected Ramsi to be there in the short to medium-term - although much progress had already been made in the eight years it had been there. "In terms of timing for us, as long as we ensure we don't fall back to the path we had gone to in 2000 - that is the important part."
