Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare has maneuvered through armed coups, riots and the rise of China during four spasmodic spells as the Pacific nation’s leader.
The 69-year-old has been a figure of international intrigue since regaining power in 2019, when he abruptly severed links with Taiwan and embraced overtures from China.
He has vowed to deepen these bonds if re-elected, when Solomon Islanders head to the polls on Wednesday.
Photo: AFP
Those more familiar with politics in the Pacific know that Sogavare was a magnet for controversy long before orchestrating the switch in relations.
Sogavare was born to missionary parents within the Seventh-day Adventist church, and his faith is a defining part of his public persona in the deeply Christian nation.
As is his rags-to-riches origin story: Sogavare claims he rose from a humble toilet cleaner in the country’s public service to become the powerful Solomon Islands Commissioner of Inland Revenue.
A sprightly karate black belt with a penchant for angry outbursts in parliament, the teetotaler taxman was first installed as prime minister in 2000 as ethnic violence swept the capital, Honiara. Armed rebels staged a coup by kidnapping then-Solomon Islands prime minister Bart Ulufa’alu, promising to release him from their clutches only when he quit.
Sogavare took his place after cobbling together a thin coalition, but lasted little more than a year before he was voted out.
Sogavare’s next tilt at power came in similarly tumultuous circumstances in 2006.
Post-vote rioting in the capital Honiara forced then-Solomon Islands prime minister Snyder Rini to abandon ship after just eight days. Again, Sogavare was on hand to pick up the pieces. He was elected for his third and fourth terms in 2014 and 2019.
Fed up with a political class widely seen as corrupt — and unnerved by the sudden lurch toward Beijing — rioters tore through Honiara’s Chinatown after Sogavare’s 2019 victory. Violence returned in 2021, when angry mobs tried to storm parliament, torched much of Chinatown and attempted to burn down Sogavare’s home.
Although a fierce nationalist, Sogavare holds a particular soft spot for Winston Churchill — peppering his speeches with references to the British wartime leader.
Jon Fraenkel, a professor in comparative politics at Victoria University of Wellington, earlier this year described Sogavare as the country’s “master of mayhem.”
In his efforts to keep the lid on bubbling discontent, critics fear he has developed increasingly autocratic tendencies over the years. Sogavare has threatened to ban foreign journalists, Facebook, and diplomats.
“He’s learned a lot in his time as prime minister,” said historian Clive Moore, who has studied the Solomon Islands for more than 30 years. “He’s learned how to control power, and how to handpick key positions in the public service.”
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