Only resource-poor Malaita, and its itinerant elite in Honiara, are keen to keep the country as it is.

ECONOMIST: The Solomon Islands: The Pacific's first failed state? | The

But unless Malaita's leaders can control their unruly former militants, and assist Mr Morrell, the new police chief, in restoring law and order, the prospects are bleak.

ECONOMIST: The Solomon Islands: The Pacific's first failed state? | The

It has been trying to bring peace to the Solomon Islands, another former British territory, where ethnic groups from the islands of Malaita and Guadalcanal are in dispute, mainly over land.

ECONOMIST: The Pacific