Gilbertese ask UN to ignore

Banaban claim to Ocean Is.

Prom a Tarawa correspondent

The GEIC’s politics were under the scrutiny of the United Nations recently, with the GEIC trying to fight off a plea by the Banabans for independence for Ocean Island, and hosting a mission from the Commit tee of 24 (the decolonisation com mittee) which went to the group to “observe” the Ellice Islands referen dum on secession. The mission took advantage of the trip to make an investigation generally, and later pre sented a report to the full committee.

The Committee of 24 prepared a draft resolution for the UN General Assembly, saying it hoped that the UK would accelerate “the process of decolonisation”. The mission had recommended that steps be taken to give elected representatives more experience in subjects at present re served to the Governor, Mr John Smith, and ex-officio members of the House of Assembly. It reported that the Chief Minister. Mi Naboua Ratieta, had said that by the time of the next general election, in four years, there would be enough ex perience to move to full internal self-government.

The committee, in its draft reso lution, asked the UK to enlist the aid of UN specialist agencies to help further the development of the GEIC, and to diversify the economy so that the group would not be so dependent on phosphate, coconuts and handi crafts. It suggested fishing and agri culture. One suggestion was that the GEIC should use more of its own phosphate to enrich the soil. But one could ask—which soil? It’s a scarce commodity on any atoll. A develop ment plan should be prepared for the Ellice Islands, as they could be come a separate territory in 1976.

But the future status of the Gilbert Islands is a minor issue, compared with the Banabans’ demands for the independence of Ocean Island. Mr Ratieta appeared before the Com mittee of 24 to ask it to ignore the Banaban petition. At the same time the Rev Setareki Tuilovoni, president of the Methodist Conference in Fiji, wrote to the committee saying the conference had resolved to give moral support to the Banabans’ desire to be independent in association with Fiji.

The church had taken over the pas toral responsibility for most of the Banabans in Fiji to release the Rev

Tebuke Rotan to work for the Rabi Island Council.

Mr Tuilovoni wrote that the Bana bans’ claim was legitimate, for long before the British arrived they were independent. Each ethnic group of the GEIC should be able to decide its own future.

Mr Ratieta based his case to the committee on history, the economy of the GEIC, the fact that about one-third of the Ocean Islanders who settled on Rabi Island in Fiji in 1945 were Gilbert Islanders, and the large share the Banabans now received from phosphate mining. He said the Banabans, as land-owners, were more generously treated than would be the case in most countries. In 1974, for example, they would receive S 3 mil lion, which was one-seventh of the total revenue from phosphate. In addition the Banabans’ share was not taxed by the GEIC Government.

For every Si million of phosphate tax, the Banabans received $65.83 a person, while the Gilbert and Ellice Islanders received only 514.17. From additional land leased for mining in 1973, the Banabans received 50 per cent of phosphate earnings. The GEIC did not resent the good for tune of the Banabans, which allowed them to hire international experts and foreign lawyers to lobby on their behalf. But it objected strongly to one of its islands seeking to break away simply and solely to enjoy all the wealth which rightly belonged to the nation as a whole.

The GEIC relied on the current revenue from phosphate to finance development it hoped to achieve in other spheres, after the phosphate was exhausted in a few years. The Banabans on Rabi Island were for tunate they had an island rich in resources, which could not be found in the coral atolls of the GEIC.

Mr Ratieta quickly rejected a claim that the Ocean Island case was the same as that of the Ellice Islands. The Ellice Islanders, unlike the Banabans, were not Micronesians.

They did not speak the same language as the Gilbertese, and that included the Banabans. Ellice Islands’ traditions were different from those of the Gilbert Islands. Finally, Ocean Island was only 200 miles from Tarawa.