As Australia leads an international peace force to the Solomon Islands, islanders fear that they will be used as human shields by the warlord Harold Keke against the peace keepers. The peace keeping force’s goal is to aid the government end the violence that began in 1998 between the rival ethnic forces in Guadalcanal and the Malaita islands. Keke has offered a ceasefire but has refused to sign the Australian mediated peace deal, and islanders feel justified in their worry as Keke has shown little compunction toward islander welfare.
