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| Australia troops prepare to land on Solomons
HONIARA, July 23 (AFP) - The first wave of an Australian-led intervention force will land on a famous Solomon Islands beach Thursday to launch an operation aimed at restoring peace in the troubled Pacific state. In what is code-named Operation Helpem Fren -- pidgin for "help a friend" -- Australian troops will come ashore on Guadalcanal's Red Beach, the same strip of land US Marines used in 1942 to drive out the invading Japanese. BizVantage – Beyond the news - a realtime Net clipping service: for business, investment or technology. At the same time dozens of military aircraft will also begin landing at the World War Two built Henderson Field from sunrise Thursday (1900 Wednesday GMT), diplomatic sources here say. Up to 800 soldiers and police are scheduled to arrive Thursday from Townsville, Australia. Four military helicopters from New Zealand are expected in Thursday afternoon onboard C130 Hercules, but officials here did not know when the Fijian, Papua New Guinean and Tongan contingents would arrive. Within around two weeks some 2,200 police and soldiers will be on the ground on Guadalcanal. The Solomons has endured a four-year-long civil war that, despite numerous peace attempts, showed no signs of ending. With the country edging towards bankruptcy, Australian Prime Minister John Howard, in a radical change of foreign policy for Canberra, announced the intervention. It is the first transactional military operation in the Pacific since PNG sent forces into Vanuatu in 1980 to crush an insurrection on the eve of that nation's independence. Although Australian and New Zealand were involved in peacekeeping in PNG's Bougainville, just north of here, that was unarmed. Operation Helpem Fren commander Nick Warner and an Australian-designated deputy Solomons Police Commissioner, Ben McDevitt, will arrive mid morning to a traditional Solomon Islands cultural welcome. Up to 400 soldiers aboard the Australian amphibious assault ship HMAS Manoora will be landed on Red Beach east of here, close to Henderson Field. The US Marines landed there 61 years ago in a bid to seize the nearly completed Japanese built airstrip, sparking a year-long series of savage battles that marked the turning point in the Pacific war. Warner and McDevitt will later Thursday meet Prime Minister Allan Kemakeza before going on national talkback radio to explain Helpem Fren. Kemakeza had left Honiara for an undisclosed location Wednesday over fears for his security. Meanwhile Paul Tovua, chairman of the Intervention Taskforce, a Solomons body, told the Solomon Star newspaper Wednesday that those illegally occupying land, homes or driving stolen vehicles must surrender them to their rightful owners. He said the government would deal with "all illegal activities. "Illegal activities include those occupying someone elses plot of land or homes taken during the height of the ethnic unrest," Tovua told the newspaper. "It also includes those driving stolen vehicles or holding on to some one else's assets." The newspaper said a number of people illegally occupy homes in the Honiara area and added "a number of people were also still driving around shamelessly in vehicles" taken during the unrest. Most of the forces coming in are to be accommodated in tents, despite the often-fierce malaria this country is infamous for. Currently it is fairly dry and hot here, making conditions dusty. The militants and special constables who until recently were a highly visible part of Honiara's street life have faded from the scene ahead of Thursdays arrival. mjf/rcw Solomons-Australia-forces
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