Hopes were high going into this year's retreat that the division of the past two years between Micronesia and the rest of the forum had been put to rest but that isn't the case, Marc Daalder reports
After Nauru's President David Adeang walked out of a Pacific Islands Forum meeting on Thursday, he has now dropped out of an overnight leaders retreat to the island of Aitutaki.
Adeang flew out of Rarotonga on Friday morning, 1News reported, while the rest of the forum leaders were still at the retreat.
Hopes were high going into this year's retreat that the division of the past two years between Micronesia and the rest of the forum had been put to rest.
The spat dates back to 2021, when former Cook Islands Prime Minister Henry Puna was given the job of secretary general of the forum, over the objections of Micronesian states who believed it was their turn to select a candidate for the top job.
Kiribati dropped out of the 2022 summit in protest and there were fears more countries might go as well. Instead, in February, Pacific nations agreed to back a Micronesian pick to replace Puna when his term ends in the first half of 2024.
That seemed to bring Micronesia back into the fold and the other Pacific countries were forced to swallow a dead rat in the name of unity when the Micronesian choice turned out to be former Nauru President Baron Waqa. Waqa is a controversial figure who expelled the top judge from the country while in power and is currently facing legal allegations of bribery.
After Waqa was selected, even some Micronesian leaders seemed to have second thoughts. Waqa is due to be confirmed at this year's summit, and speculation that he might be rejected quieted over the first couple of days of the meeting.
On his arrival in Rarotonga, Waqa said he was confident he would be confirmed. "It's already been decided," he said.
New Zealand's representatives, Deputy Prime Minister Carmel Sepuloni and National's foreign affairs spokesperson Gerry Brownlee, said before departing Wellington they were expecting Waqa to be confirmed, though there might also be forward-looking discussions about the process for selecting new secretaries-general in the future.
Then in a plenary meeting on Thursday, Samoa's Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata'afa had raised concerns over the process by which Waqa was picked and asked for it to be discussed at the overnight leaders retreat on Aitutaki, 1News reported.
Adeang, the current Nauru President, reportedly took this to mean Waqa's selection would be reopened and stormed out.
Sepuloni spoke to reporters after the walkout and said she hadn't noticed it at the time.
"I'm not even entirely sure there was a walkout. Leaders were coming in and out during the forum, so I'm not entirely sure that is the case, that is just what I've seen online," she said.
There were hopes that Mata'afa and Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka would be able to bring Nauru back to the table, but Adeang wasn't on the flight to Aitutaki with the rest of the Pacific leaders and ministers.
