[5] In September 2006, Sogavare expelled Australian high commissioner Patrick Cole and accused Australia of using developmental aid to bully the Solomon Islands.

[6] He also alleged that Australia's involvement in the region could be "driving this country down the path of another conflict that could be more serious" than the April 2006 riots that broke out after an election won by the former deputy prime minister Snyder Rini, when thousands of anti-government protesters burned down buildings in Solomon Islands' capital Honiara's Chinese district, alleging that either the People's Republic of China or the Republic of China had paid lawmakers to vote for Rini.

[7] On 1 October 2007, the Solomon Islands' Foreign Affairs Minister Patteson Oti addressed the General Assembly of the United Nations, and accused Australia of undermining his country's sovereignty, stating "Mine is too nationalistic a government to become captive to the fortunes which justify our perpetual retention under siege.

"[8][9] This led the Australian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Robert Hill to exercise his government's right of reply, denying the accusation that RAMSI was an occupying force.

Similar sentiments were expressed by New Zealand's Permanent Representative Rosemary Banks, who said that RAMSI's presence was consistent with the United Nations Charter and Solomon Islands law.

[19] Following the outbreak of conflict between the Guadalcanal and Malaitan peoples in 1998, Australia led other nations as part of the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) between 2003 and 2017.