The Convoluted Politics of Vanuatu

Henry Srebrnik, [Summerside, PEI] Journal Pioneer

Small isolated South Pacific archipelagos rarely make the news, unless they are the victims of some catastrophe. That’s what happened to the 83-island nation of Vanuatu in mid-March, when Cyclone Pam tore through the country. It was the South Pacific’s second strongest cyclone since record-keeping began in 1970.

The storm crippled Vanuatu’s infrastructure: an estimated 90 per cent of the nation’s buildings were impacted, telecommunications were paralyzed, and at least 132,000 people – half the total population -- were affected. 

Some 90 per cent of food crops were destroyed and 75,000 people made homeless. Outer islands like Tanna were cut off from Port Vila, the capital, on the island of Éfaté, for many days.

President Baldwin Lonsdale said the “monster” storm had “wiped out” all development of recent years and his nation would have to rebuild “everything.” Lonsdale, who happened to be at a UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Sendai, Japan, issued an appeal to the global community to help his shattered nation.

Australia, New Zealand, and France (which still governs the French overseas territories of New Caledonia and French Polynesia in the South Pacific) began a coordinated response to provide humanitarian assistance. Britain, the European Union and India promised financial aid. Still, full recovery will take years.

Vanuatu was one of the last South Pacific entities to attain independence. Located about 1,750 kilometres east of Australia, its population of indigenous Melanesians are known as ni-Vanuatu.

Though more than 100 languages are spoken throughout the island chain, a creole language, Bislama, is the national language. The languages of the former colonial powers, English and French, also have official status.

Most ni-Vanuatu are Christians, the largest denominations being Presbyterian, Roman Catholic, and Anglican.

However, on Tanna, whose inhabitants were exposed to the American military and their wealth of supplies, or “cargo,” during the Second World War, a belief in a mythical messianic American figure named John Frum became the basis for an indigenous “cargo cult,” promising material goods from the spirit world through worship and ritual.

John Frum followers believe the cyclone and subsequent aid are a precursor to a major event that will take place next year.

The first Europeans to see the islands were Portuguese; in 1774 the islands were named the New Hebrides by the British explorer Captain James Cook. British and French commercial interests became active in the islands in the 19th century, leading the two countries to administer the islands jointly, under a British-French “condominium,” in 1906.

The first political movement, the Vanua’aku (Our Land) Party, was established in the early 1970s and one of the founders, the Anglican priest Father Walter Lini, became the first prime minister at independence in July1980.

As is the case with many archipelagic countries, some of Vanuatu’s islands harbor strong secessionist feelings. A movement on Tanna proclaimed its independence from the New Hebrides condominium in 1974, but was suppressed.

In January 1980, there was another attempt on Tanna to secede. British forces intervened, allowing the island to become part of the new Republic of Vanuatu six months later.

While English-speaking politicians such as Lini had favoured early independence, French-speaking political leaders preferred continuing association with the colonial administrators, particularly France.

On the eve of independence, the Nagriamel movement, in alliance with private French interests, declared the island of Espiritu Santo independent of the new nation. The Lini government quashed the short-lived “Republic of Vemerana” a few weeks later with troops from Papua New Guinea.

From then until 1991, Lini’s predominantly Anglophone Vanua’aku Party controlled the Vanuatu government. That year Maxime Carlot Korman, leader of the Francophone Union of Moderate Parties (UMP), was elected Vanuatu's first Francophone prime minister. The UMP was the governing party in Vanuatu from 1991 to 1998.

Vanuatu’s chaotic political culture has led to frequent changes of government since then. A record 16 parties and four independent candidates won seats to the 52-member parliament in 2012. Currently, the prime minister is Joe Natuman of the Vanua’aku Party, the country’s third leader since the election.

He offended many ni-Vanuatu on a tour of the areas most affected by Cyclone Pam when he urged citizens to “plant their own gardens and survive” and told them that they had become too dependent on government due to French colonial rule.

Though the condominium is long gone, its after-effects linger, as political parties in Vanuatu continue to reflect the colonial legacy of France and Britain and the religious and linguistic divisions they left behind.