Nauru’s president dies in line of duty

Swimming with Sharks Chapter 7.2

At the end of the war, the British, saying their home was destroyed, took the Banabans to Rabi Island in Fiji. It had been a Lever Brother’s plantation island and had been purchased by the British using the Banaban’s own trust funds.

The 703 Banabans agreed to be on Rabi for two years, with the option of permanently settling there. If any or all of them should wish to return to Banaba, Britain would organise it. It was the latest in a series of betrayals.

 BPC kept mining Banaba while eventually around a hundred Banabans returned from Rabi. A colonial Gilbertese police force met them. In a clash a tear-gas canister hit Tabare Biara, 21, and he was then batoned on the head, killing him. 

Rabi Council of Leaders decided on legal action and two pastors were dispatched to Australia and New Zealand. They were ignored. In London, they found a retired Queen's Counsel, Sir Elwyn Jones, and a barrister to act for them. 

The case - at the time the longest running case to be heard in the High Court of England - came up for hearing on the 8 April, 1976, ran for 221 days and 10,000 documents were adduced.

Hammer de Robert