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The question being asked around the Pacific is to how the region's leaders could agree to Nauru's Baron Waqa becoming the new secretary general of the Pacific Islands Forum.
Opinion / From The Crowd
Regionalism in retreat – Members threaten to quit the regional body if their choice for Secretary General was rejected
Tess Newton
16 February, 2021, 7:00 pm
Leaders were all smiles as they posed in their matching coral shifts for the Pacific Islands Forum family photo at their summit in Tuvalu in 2019. Photo: RNZ / Yvette McCullough
Prophesies of the end of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) as we know it are close to being fulfilled after a virtual and very tense leaders’ meeting last week.
The difficulties of this awkward format, held via Zoom rather than face-to-face for the first time in 50 years, were amplified with threats by the five Micronesian members to quit the regional body if their choice for Secretary General was rejected.
Papua New Guinea s former prime minister Peter O Neill and other regional figures have lamented the failure to reach consensus at the latest Pacific Islands Forum meeting.
This comes as Micronesian leaders this week announced their intention to withdraw their five countries from the premier regional body, after their candidate wasn t selected for the organisation s top job.
Papua New Guinea s former prime minister, Peter O Neill.
Photo: AFP
The presidents of Nauru, the Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands and Palau said that South Pacific countries dishonoured a gentleman s agreement to rotate the post evenly among sub-regions, and that it was Micronesia s turn.