CANBERRA: Australia said yesterday it was considering forming some kind of multinational security force to restore law and order in the Solomon Islands in what could be a major shift in policy towards its South Pacific neighbours.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said ethnic fighting had claimed hundreds of lives in recent years but also led to a build-up of armed gangs and had almost bankrupted the island nation, forcing Australia to look at new ways to address the crisis.

"The Solomon Islands faces chronic lawlessness and, as a result, inevitable economic decline," said Downer, launching a report on the Solomons entitled "Our Failing Neighbour."

"Direct engagement, including security assistance, might be needed," he added, signalling a possible shift in Australia's policy of not intervening in its South Pacific neighbours.

A group of Australian and New Zealand officials arrived in the Solomons capital, Honiara, yesterday for a visit after Prime Minister Allan Kemakeza visited Canberra last week to seek help with law and order.

The report, by the government-funded Australian Strategic Policy Institute, recommended that Australia initiate and support a 150-strong police force drawn from donor countries for up to one year under a 10-year plan.

It said phase one would be the restoration of law and order using "muscular policing" and the use of lethal force if necessary. Police would be backed by a military contingent on ready deployment status in Australia or elsewhere nearby.

It said phase two would see a multinational administration work alongside the government in running the country and restoring structures such as the judiciary and prisons.

"The people of the Solomon Islands would need to consent to what would be a major intrusion on their sovereignty," it said.

The report said measures by Australia and others were not stopping the crisis and the Solomons showed no sign of pulling itself out of a "fatal dive towards state failure."

While welcoming the report, Downer stressed no decision had been made but said the government was considering "co-operative intervention."

A major problem facing the Solomons, which has no army, is that many of its police were once militia members and are reportedly engaged in crime, leaving them powerless or unwilling to stop the lawlessness.

Australia led a multinational peace mission to East Timor in 1999 after a vote for freedom from Indonesia turned violent, while peace monitors have been stationed on Papua New Guinea's Bougainville island since 1997 after a peace treaty ended secessionist fighting.

Agencies via Xinhua