An academic and lecturer of Pacific studies says a Pacific model of conflict resolution could have been adopted by Solomon Islands during its ethnic tensions instead of a South African model.

Dr David Gegeo made the comment during a conference on democracy in the Pacific last week.

The Solomon Islands Truth and Reconciliation Commission based on the South African model was established three years ago to investigate the cause of the ethnic violence in the country between 1997 and 2003.

Dr Gegeo says Pacific countries have various strategies for conflict resolution and says they could merge to develop a single Pacific model that Solomon Islands could have adopted during the ethnic tensions.

"It would be a model based on indigenous knowledge and the ways that Solomon Island communities or cultures solve problems in the past, because it's there. I mean these people have been on the face of this earth for 60,000 years and they must have had some kind of way of solving problems."

Dr David Gegeo says dialogue is one form of conflict resolution practised in the Pacific.