What the Forum has Done 1 Phase I: 1971

The decolonisation issue, although a major reason for creating the Forum, was not discussed by the Forum until 1979 when it passed a resolution supporting independence for Vanuatu. The Forum did not contribute at all to the decolonisation process in the cases of Niue,

Papua New Guinea, Tuvalu, Solomon Islands and Kiribati. Even to 1981 decolonisation had not become a major issue, for example the Forum contributed very little to the decolonisation process in the New Hebrides which became independent in 1980. This was not because the Forum leaders did not have any serious intention of discussing the issue but partly because most of those Island states did not need any help from other states in the region.38 There was also disagreement among the Forum members when the PNG troops were dispatched to Vanuatu to put down the Santo rebellion. The decolonisation process, in most cases, ran smoothly. Except for the French colonies, the Pacific Island states were fortunate. Firstly, they had relatively benign colonial masters (the British, Australians and New Zealanders) and secondly, most are not endowed with abundant natural resources, except for Papua New Guinea and, to a lesser extent, Fiji and other bigger Island states. They have not had the obvious wealth which the colonial power is reluctant to let go, and the British, Australians and New Zealanders have generally not seen their national prestige being dependent on possessing colonies.

It was in 1979 that the Forum at last started to reaffirm its belief in the principle of self- determination and in independence applying to all Pacific Island peoples in accordance with their freely expressed wishes. The Forum’s involvement in the issue was initially seen as a reaction to the New Hebrides’ troubled decolonisation. It was a particular response to PNG’s proposal which asked the Forum to take action regarding the French territories. PNG invited the other Forum leaders to support the independence movement in New Caledonia by adopting a resolution which specified the French as the colonial masters. Hard debate was unavoidable on the issue whether to single out France or just to mention ‘colonial powers’. The Deputy Prime Minister of PNG, N.E. Olewale, informed the Forum leaders of a petition addressed to the United Nations Special Committee of Twenty Four by Yann Uregei (leader of the Kanaky Independent Movement). The letter said:

In order to inform international opinion about the struggle of the Kanak Liberation in New Caledonia, I have the honour to address to you a copy of the petition I sent to the Special Committee of 24 on 24 July 1978, on behalf of the Kanak people, who are threatened by the French colonial policy of "Departmentalisation" (Annexation) and violence. New Caledonia is on its way to becoming a new Rhodesia.

In the name of the human Kanak communal society, from which I come, I ask you to help the Kanak people to fight against this colonial policy of integration, which is bound to end in civil war...39.

M. Confirmed by the author’s interview with IeremiaTabai, Kiribati’s former President and now the new Secretary General o f the Forum Secretariat, Tarawa, 18 September 1991.

The next Forum meeting in 1980 also similarly ‘calls upon and expects Britain and France, the two administering powers, to meet the expressed wish of the elected Parliament and Government of the New Hebrides to achieve independence on 30 July 1980 in terms of the agreed constitution’.40 From 1979 Vanuatu41 had been an observer at the Forum and two weeks before its attainment of independence (when the Forum meeting took place), Vanuatu was admitted as a new member of the Forum. In his address at the Forum meeting in Tarawa, Kiribati, in 1980 the Chief Minister of the New Hebrides, Father Walter Lini thanked the Chairman and other Forum leaders for the support they had given his government in the current political situation in his country. He assured the Forum that Vanuatu would play a full role in Forum activities.

Although the independence of Vanuatu cannot be regarded as resulting from the Forum’s influence, at least the Forum started expressing the Pacific Islanders’ opposition to all forms of colonialism. But, strangely, it was not until the end of its first decade that the Forum met its first expectation: the Island states used the Forum annual meeting as an arena to discuss political issues such as decolonisation.

2.2. Phase U : 1981 - 1991

2.2.1. French Overseas Territories NEW CALEDONIA42

The one case where the Forum has strongly influenced decolonisation is that of New Caledonia. Its heavy involvement started in 1981 when the Forum meeting decided to send a delegation, led by the Forum Heads of Government, to Paris to see President Mitterrand to discuss the question of the evolution of the French Government’s policies on the progress towards decolonisation of the people of the French Pacific territories. The Deputy Prime Minister of Vanuatu, Fred Timakata, drew the attention of the Forum leaders in 1981 to the situation in New Caledonia. Vanuatu proposed two steps that could be taken by the Forum. Firstly, to send

40 The Forum Communique, 1980.

41. At its independence on 30 July 1980, the New Hebrides changed its name to ‘Vanuatu’ which means ‘the land which has existed, exists and will exist in future’. For details of Vanuatu’s transition into an independent nation, see Father Walter Lini, Beyond Pandemonium: From the New Hebrides to Vanuatu, (Wellington: Asia Pacific Books, 1980).

42. It is beyond this Chapter to examine the details of the decolonisation process in New Caledonia. For accounts on this see John Connell, ‘New Caledonia: The Matignon Accord and the Colonial Future’, an Occasional paper No.5 of the Research Institute for Asia and the Pacific, Sydney University, 1988; John Connell, 1987, op.cit.; Helen Fraser,

New Caledonia: Anti-Colonialism in Pacific Territory, (Canberra: Peace Research Centre, Australian National University, 1988); and S. Henningham, 1992, op.cit.. Chapters 3 and 4.

a delegation of Forum representatives to meet with President Mitterrand to express the concern of the Forum. Secondly, the Forum should agree to sponsor and campaign for New Caledonia to be included in the list of non-self-governing territories of the UN Special Committee on Decolonization. If the Forum did not take the above actions, then it would be interpreted by the Kanaks Independence Front as a lack of interest from the Forum. Vanuatu believed that if the Forum did not give support, then the Front would seek help from organisations and countries outside the region whose interests might not coincide with those of Forum countries. The Chairman of the Forum at last summed up the Forum position as follows:

a. The Forum accepted that a delegation should be sent to have discussion with the President of France;

b. the delegation should be led by a Forum Head of Government; c. the leader would be the Prime Minister of Fiji;

d. the purpose of the approach was to seek information from the new French Government on its policy on progress towards decolonisation of its Pacific territories.43

The Fiji Prime Minister agreed to lead the Forum’s mission, although he felt that it was hard to confront the French government. He reminded Forum leaders that Fiji stood to lose more than any other Forum country by offending France. Fiji depended on its sugar sales to the European Community.44 On the question of reinscribing the territory in the Committee of Twenty Four, the Forum leaders agreed in principle. Australia and Fiji, in particular, which were members of that Committee, supported the idea but reminded other Forum members that the timing should be taken into account. They proposed that the action should be taken after the Forum mission to Paris got a response from the French government.

A positive response to the visit was received from the French government in 1982. The mission was led by Mara and its members were the former PNG Foreign Minister, Noel Levi, and the High Commissioner of Tonga, Inoki Faletau. They met and had a frank discussion with President Mitterrand and French Ministers. As the head of the mission, Mara also made another effort to monitor the situation in New Caledonia in the period between the Forum meetings in 1981 and 1982. In September 1981, for example, Mara visited Vila, Vanuatu, and met with the leaders of the Independence Front. To follow up the recent mission, the New Caledonia High Commissioner, M. Nucci, and the Vice President of the Council of Government, Jean-Marie Tjibaou, had called on him on 26 July 1982 and briefed him on recent events. In late July 1982, Yann Uregei of the Front de Liberation Kanak et Socialist (FLNKS) also called on Mara seeking

43. Summary Record o f the Twelfth SPF Meeting, Port Vila, 10-11 August 1981, pp. 12-13.