HE had one hour’s sleep the night before.

Scores of Australian troops were today flying to the Solomon Islands in the Pacific to restore peace after rioters and looters laid waste to much of the capital Honiara’s Chinatown neighbourhood in protests sparked by the election of a new prime minister.

AUSTRALIAN troops began a peace mission to the lawless Solomon Islands yesterday, splashing ashore at a beach where US Marines fought the Japanese in one of World War II’s most crucial battles.

AN Australian warship left for the lawless Solomon Islands yesterday carrying the first contingent of a 2,000-strong force of troops and police hoping to restore order to the near-bankrupt South Pacific nation.