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PORT MORESBY - Nobel Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu is to visit the Solomon Islands to help set up a peace and reconciliation commission.
The retired South African archbishop will assist the Solomons government develop a peace and reconciliation process after years of ethnic tensions that have divided the country.
Tutu's personal assistant Dan Vaughan confirmed the acceptance of Solomons Prime Minister Derek Sikua's invitation.
"The archbishop plans to visit the Solomon Islands on April 29 and 30 at the invitation of the prime minister," he said.
Tutu, the former Archbishop of Cape Town, played a prominent role in ending apartheid in South Africa and initiating reconciliation through a peace commission.
He is an authority on a wide range of issues, including poverty and HIV/Aids in developing countries.
Tutu, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984, had planned to visit the Solomons last year but had to reschedule.
The Australian-led Regional Assistance to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) was deployed in 2003 in response to years of ethnic tension, but civil unrest flared in 2006 with much of Honiara's Chinatown razed.
- AAP
