Solomon warlord frees hostages, vows to fight intervention

A notorious Solomon Islands warlord released four hostages as a goodwill gesture when he signed a ceasefire deal but vowed to retaliate if attacked by an Australian-led intervention force, an official said today.

Harold Keke, accused of killing dozens of people and inciting followers to rape and torture, signed a unilateral ceasefire pact as Australian-led peacekeepers prepare to land in the lawless Pacific state later this month to help restore order and rebuild a shattered economy.

Followers of Keke, leader of the Guadalcanal Liberation Front, have been accused in recent days of raping young girls and torturing, then beheading at least three men, before razing their entire village in his Weathercoast stronghold.

The government's special Weathercoast envoy Yukio Sato said he escorted the four hostages, members of a religious order, back to Honiara after negotiating the ceasefire, but the militant leader refused to release three other captives.

"Keke told me that he had held the seven novices because he claimed they trespassed," Sato, a member of parliament, told Reuters. "He said no one invited them. As there is a lot of tension in the area, Keke said he took them as prisoners of war."

The four hostages from the Anglican Melanesian Brotherhood of the Church of Melanesia had their hands tied but had otherwise been fairly well looked after, he said.

The rebel leader was in a "sound mind and genuinely wants to reconcile," but was determined to take up arms against the intervention force if it tried to hunt him down, the envoy said.

Sato said Keke told him: "I'm willing to die. If they want to fight, I'll fight them."

The planned international intervention force of 2000 police and troops, including 200 New Zealand troops and 40 police, expected to head to the nation of 450,000 by the end of July, follows years of ethnic clashes between Guadalcanal and Malaitan islanders, and a 2000 coup.

Hundreds of villagers have fled the Weathercoast to the safety of camps on the outskirts of Honiara in recent weeks, many terrified they would be used by Keke as human shields to slow the advance of the intervention force.

"I don't think Keke will use local villagers as human shields. Keke told me that media reports that he was using villagers as human shields was not true," said Sato.

Australia and New Zealand have said Keke, a mysterious figure who rose to prominence after the 2000 coup, would have to be dealt with by the intervention force.

However, Prime Minister Sir Allan Kemakeza and Solomons Police Commissioner William Morrell are recommending that armed rebels be offered a 30-day amnesty to hand in their weapons.

The Solomons government is also insisting that the multinational force only deal with new crimes while local police hunt those guilty of breaking the law earlier.

Keke refused to sign an Australian-brokered peace deal after the 2000 coup that stemmed some of the ethnic violence. Hundreds died in the fighting and 30,000 were driven from their homes.

- REUTERS