By Lucy Craymer and Praveen Menon
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Sitiveni Rabuka became Fiji’s 12th prime minister on Friday, ending a political impasse that had gripped the small Pacific island nation in the 10 days since an undecisive election. The parliament convened on Christmas Eve to vote in Rabuka, who was handed the job for a second time.
Here are five facts on Rabuka’s life and career:
– Born on September 13, 1948, Sitiveni Rabuka resides in Suva but originally came from the village of Drekeniwai, on Vanua Levu, the second-largest island of Fiji.
– He is a graduate of the Indian Defence Services Staff College and was awarded a master’s degree in science from the University of Madras in 1979. He has commanded two infantry battalions on peacekeeping duties in Lebanon and in the Sinai Dessert, Egypt. He was awarded the French Legion D’Honneur for bravery in saving a French officer during an attack on the UN Headquarters in Lebanon in 1980. Rabuka also represented the country in rugby union and, in the Commonwealth Games, athletics.
– He made his first mark in politics when he emerged from relative obscurity to stage a military coup in 1987, arguing that indigenous Fijians were losing control of their nation to the descendents of ethnic Indians. He went on to instigate another coup in the same year to depose the leadership he had installed. He then handed power to an interim administration, but remained commander of the army and minister of home affairs.
– Rabuka then contested in the next election in 1992 and was democratically elected as prime minister, serving until 1999. The latest election, held on Dec. 14, ended in a deadlock. On Friday, the king maker Social Democratic Liberal Party said it would back a three-party coalition led by Rabuka, ending Frank Bainimarama’s 16 years in power.
– A practicing Christian, Rabuka is married to Suluweti Tuiloma. After publication of his biography in 2000, he said he had been unfaithful to her before and after their marriage and that he had fathered three children by two different women whilst engaged to her.
(Reporting by Praveen Menon; Editing by Bradley Perrett)
