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At least one Micronesian country left the Pacific Islands Forum, and others might follow, after a conflicting vote for a new secretary general sidelined North Pacific countries, which they say are intimidated by larger nations and are they are left with “crumbs”.
The Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) is the most important political body in the Pacific region and a powerful voice for the Pacific on the world stage, but the election of former Cook Islands Prime Minister Henry Puna as Secretary General has exposed a deep rift between north and south. Pacific nations.
An exodus of nations from the Micronesia subgroup would be a critical blow to the international credibility of the forum.
In a diplomatic move, Palau has said that “it will terminate its participation in the Forum of the Pacific Islands.”
“The process regarding the appointment of the secretary general has clearly indicated to the Republic of Palau that unity, regionalism and the ‘Pacific Way’ no longer guide the forum.”
Furthermore, the Federated States of Micronesia and Nauru have openly questioned whether they will remain members: all Micronesian leaders will meet next Monday to discuss leaving the forum.
“Micronesia really doesn’t need to be part of the [forum], they don’t really consider us part of them, ”Palau President Surangel Whipps Jr. told The Guardian.
The ‘Way of the Pacific’ is based on consensus and dialogue, understanding and reciprocity. But little has been shown in the region this week.
Hampered by the inability to meet in person due to Covid-19, the generally peaceful process to elect a new secretary general of the Pacific Islands Forum, the region’s top diplomat and bureaucrat, turned into a thinly veiled acrimony this week. .
Having served as Prime Minister of the Cook Islands for a decade before resigning to run for the PIF post, Puna, 71, is well known and respected throughout the Pacific. But his narrow and divided election, by nine votes to eight, has exposed a schism between the North and South Pacific, a divide that will be one of his most urgent and difficult jobs to repair.
Also this week, Pacific leaders were stunned by Fiji’s summary deportation of the vice chancellor of the University of the South Pacific, an influential jointly owned 12-state Pacific institution that is a shining light of Pacific regional cooperation.
Vice Chancellor Pal Ahluwalia, who had enraged the Fiji government with his exposure of allegations of corruption under previous university administrations, raided his home and was forcibly deported just as Pacific leaders were sitting down to meet.
The Pacific Islands Forum leaders forum was held online, the first time leaders were unable to meet in person.
By long-standing convention, the forum’s leadership spans the region’s three main subgroups: Polynesia, Melanesia, and Micronesia.
This year it was Micronesia’s turn, and the ascension of its agreed-upon candidate, the Marshall Islands’ ambassador to the United States, Gerald Zackios, initially seemed like a formality.
But other larger Pacific nations insisted on their candidates, and with a field of five, Wednesday’s forum ran late into the night, resolved only by a series of conflicting votes that ultimately resolved, by nine votes to eight, in favor of Puna, a Polynesian Candidate, over Zackios.
Publicly, the forum said that his decision to elect Puna ultimately had unanimous support. “All the leaders were very firm in their support for the new secretary general,” said the forum’s president and Prime Minister of Tuvalu, Kausea Natano.
But reports from inside the meeting say it was “painful” and “heated,” with the room divided between the North and South Pacific nations.
With smaller populations and economies, the nations of Micronesia feel that they are constantly being ignored by comparatively larger Melanesian and Polynesian countries.
“There is clearly no need for Micronesian to be part of the (forum), they don’t really consider us part of them,” Palau President Surangel Whipps Jr. told The Guardian.
“Our friends from the South Pacific did not want to honor the gentlemen’s agreement, in fact, they keep saying that they know nothing about the gentlemen’s agreement.”
David Panuelo, president of the Federated States of Micronesia, told ABC radio: “If there is no trust and recognition of rotation between the sub-regions, then there really is no reason to stay in the Pacific Islands Forum.”
Nauru President Lionel Aingimea said the Micronesian countries had been treated with “total disregard”.
“To say that we are [Micronesian countries] disappointed is an understatement ”.
A statement from the Nauru government said: “President Aingimea’s position is that if this is how Micronesia is treated, it is best to withdraw from the forum.”
But Aingimea stressed that the Pacific nations “will stick together” on global issues.
Whipps said the Micronesian countries had previously made clear their threat to leave the forum if the “gentlemen’s agreement” was not respected.
“What I have discussed with the president of FSM is that we must act in accordance with what we said, otherwise they will think that we are only joking.”
Whipps alluded to the two largest countries in the forum, Australia and New Zealand, which exerted their enormous influence in favor of the South Pacific, leaving the north of the region with “crumbs.”
“They pushed for a vote and now there is a division. Really, the two main players in this are Australia and New Zealand, and if those two hadn’t voted, Micronesia would have won.
