Kiribati has confirmed its intention to rejoin the Pacific's peak political forum, finally ending a persistent and bitter leadership split.
The office of Kiribati President Taneti Maamau says the decision was made after new Fijian Prime Minister and chair of the Pacific Islands Forum Sitiveni Rabuka visited Kiribati earlier this month and delivered an official apology, "seeking forgiveness from Kiribati" in a traditional ceremony.
Kiribati and four other Micronesian nations moved to quit the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) early in 2021 after accusing Polynesian and Melanesian nations of breaking a "gentleman's agreement" to hand their candidate the secretary-general position.
While the other Micronesian nations last year struck a complex compromise over leadership – known as the Suva Agreement — President Maamau, declared just before last year's PIF leaders meeting that his nation would not rejoin the body.
Kiribati said the Forum had not adequately addressed its concerns about the leadership and the date of the last year's PIF meeting, which coincided with Kiribati's national holiday.
In a statement this afternoon, the office of the Kiribati president said it had decided to return to the forum after a "fruitful, positive and successful bilateral meeting" with newly elected Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka this month.
"The meeting focused on strengthening bilateral relations between Fiji and Kiribati and discussed the restoration of unity in the Blue Pacific family as well as reaffirming the need to collectively work in unity and promote regional cooperation as enshrined in the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent," the statement said.
Mr Rabuka this morning said Mr Maamau had written to him to confirm the Micronesian nation would once again join the fold.
"Kiribati will return to the Pacific Islands Forum," he wrote on Twitter.
"As we expected he (Mr Maamau) wrote everything he said, that they were willing to rejoin the Pacific Islands Forum."
Mr Rabuka was not available for an interview with the ABC, but told Pacific media outlet the Islands Business that the PIF secretariat would now coordinate with Kiribati to work out the logistics of rejoining.
The PIF had no immediate comment on Mr Rabuka's declaration, and Kiribati has not yet issued any formal statement on the decision.
But late last week PIF secretary-general Henry Puna flagged that Kiribati was on the brink of rejoining the body, saying: "We are just waiting for confirmation as to when and how the formal return of Kiribati to the Forum family will be finalised."
He also said Mr Maamau was expected to join a PIF special leaders' retreat tentatively scheduled for late February. However, some diplomats predict the meeting will be pushed back to March instead.
The news will be welcomed by Australian officials, who have been worried by Mr Maamau's isolationism and increasingly autocratic leadership style, including his move to dump Australians and New Zealanders who sat as senior judges in the country.
Mr Maamau has also rapidly drawn his country much closer to China since abandoning diplomatic ties with Taiwan and officially recognising Beijing in 2019.
The Australian government has been helping to facilitate talks to ensure Kiribati returns to the PIF, for example by flying Mr Rabuka to Kiribati on a Royal Australian Air Force plane.
A spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said Australia remained "strongly committed to supporting Pacific-led efforts to restore full unity of the Pacific Islands Forum".
