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The Epic Interactive Encyclopedia 1998
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Epic Interactive Encyclopedia, The - 1998 Edition (1998)(Epic Marketing).iso
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Nauru
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Republic of area 21 sq km/8 sq mi capital
Yaren physical island country in W Pacific
features plateau circled by coral cliffs and
sandy beach head of state and government
Hammer DeRoburt from 1987 political system
liberal democracy exports phosphates currency
Australian dollar (2.23 = 1 Feb 1990)
population (1989) 8,100 (mainly Polynesian;
Chinese 8%, European 8%); annual growth rate
3.1% language Nauruan (official), English
religion Protestant 45% literacy 99% GDP $155
million (1981); $21,400 per head of
population chronology 1888 Annexed by
Germany. 1920 Administered by Australia, New
Zealand, and UK until independence, except
1942-45, when it was occupied by Japan. 1968
Full independence achieved, with `special
member' Commonwealth status. Hammer DeRoburt
elected president. 1976 Bernard Dowiyogo
elected president. 1978 DeRoburt returned to
power.
1986 DeRoburt briefly replaced as president
by Kenneth Adeang. 1987 DeRoburt returned to
power; Adeang established the Democratic
Party of Nauru. 1989 DeRoburt defeated on no
confidance motion and replaced by Kensas
Aroi, who later resigned and was succeeded by
Bernard Dowiyogo.
2.
Island country in the SW Pacific, in
Polynesia, W of Kiribati. government The
constitution dates from independence in 1968.
It provides for a single-chamber parliament
of 18 members, elected by universal suffrage
for a three-year term, and a president who is
both head of state and head of government.
The president and cabinet are elected by
parliament and responsible to it. The size of
the country allows a very intimate style of
government, with the president combining
several portfolios in a cabinet of only five.
Voting in parliamentary elections is
compulsory. Traditionally, members of
parliament have been elected as independents
and then grouped themselves into pro- and
anti-government factions. In 1987, however,
the Democratic Party of Nauru was formed by
the then opposition leader Kennan Adeang.
history The first Europeans, Britons, arrived
1798 and called it Pleasant Island. The
German empire seized it 1888. Nauru was
placed under Australian administration by the
League of Nations in 1920, with the UK and
New Zealand as co-trustees. Japan occupied
and devastated Nauru 1942-45, destroying its
mining facilities and deporting two-thirds of
its population to Truk Atoll in Micronesia,
1,600 km to the NW. In 1947 Nauru became a
United Nations trust territory administered
by Australia. Internal self-government was
granted 1966 and in 1968, on achieving full
independence, Nauru became a `special member'
of the Commonwealth, which means that it does
not have direct representation at meetings of
heads of government. The chief of Nauru,
Hammer DeRoburt, was elected president in
1968 and re-elected until 1983 with one
interruption, 1976-78, when Bernard Dowiyogo
was president. The Dec 1986 elections
resulted in a hung parliament and the need
for fresh polls. In the 1987 elections,
DeRoburt secured a narrow majority. This
prompted the defeated Kennan Adeang, who had
briefly held power in 1986, to establish the
Democratic Party of Nauru as a formal
opposition grouping. In Aug 1989 Adeang
secured the ousting of DeRoburt on a vote of
no confidence and Kensas Aroi became
president, with Adeang serving as finance
minister in the new government. According to
Australian government sources, Aroi was
DeRoburt's `unaknowledged natural son'. Four
months later Aroi resigned on the grounds of
ill health and in the subsequent election was
defeated by Bernard Dowiyogo. Nauru is
attempting to sue its former trustees (New
Zealand, the UK, and Australia) for removing
nearly all the island's phosphate-rich soil
1922-68, leaving it barren. Nauru received
$2.5 million for phosphate worth $65 million
and had to pay Australia $20 million to keep
the remaining soil. Nauru's residual
phosphate supplies, which have earned $80
million a year, are set to run out in 1995
and an economic diversification programme has
ben launched.