Tongan King's secret midnight mission

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32957, 1 July 1972, Page 15

Tongan King's secret midnight mission

(By

ALF SANFT,

A.A.P. correspondent)

NUKU’ALOFA, June 30. The Tongan flag — a truncated red cross on a rectangular white ground (next staff) on a red field—today flutters above the north and south extremities of lonely Minerva Reef, which now basks in the joint title of Teleki Tokelau and Teleki Tonga.

The flags, raised on June 26 by King Taufa’ahau Tupou IV, are the climax of a dramatic bid to claim these two lonely outposts as part of his territory, and so to forestall the activities of the British and American-backed Ocean Life Research Foundation, and its plan to build a sea city on the southern reef. Once a decision was made, based on international legal advice, Tonga moved swiftly to stake her claim.

It all began a month ago,

iwhen the King sailed the 250 miles south-west of Nuku ’Alofa to inspect the reef, taking with him his Minister of Police and his Director of Works. The move was undertaken at dead of night, and intended to be secret. But security is difficult in such a small community, and once the nature of the project was leaked, His Majesty made a statement of his intentions. Three days later, men and materials were dispatched to build two artificial concrete islands, because international law requires land to be above highwater before any territorial claim can be recognised. Each platform measures 30 feet by 420 feet, and has a tubular steel mast fixed in the centre. A working party of 100 men, mainly prison labour, was used for the construction, under the supervision of the Minister of Police. In the process, one prisoner was killed near the spot where the bodies of two other Tongans were buried when the cutter

Tuaikaepau foundered on the reef in 1962. The body of the dead prisoner has been brought back to Tonga for burial, and a fellow-prisoner is awaiting

trial in connection with the incident. The project was timed to enable the King to announce his formal claim to the reefs during the State opening of Parliament on June 15. When the House convened later the same day, its first task was to pass the empowering act for the takeover. The affirmation names the two man-made islands Teleki Tokelau and Teleki Tonga, and applies also to “all islands, rocks, reefs, foreshores, and waters lying within a radius of 12 miles thereof, as part of the Kingdom of Tonga.” But while the King was making his declaration of sovereignty, the “President of the Provisional Government of Minerva,” Mr Morris Davis, of Minnesota, arrived in Nuku ’Alofa. During his two-day stay, Mr Davis tried unsuccessfully to meet the King. He told reporters that he was not at liberty to state his organisation’s reaction to Tonga’s claims, but argued that the Republic of Minerva had been established beforehand. Its

ownership, he said, was vested with Caribbean Pacific Enterprises, incorporated under the laws of the state of Nevada.

Mr Davis had brought with him a feasibility study of the proposed development, recommending the construction of pier-supported concrete platforms to create an artificial land surface at a provisional cost of $65,000 an acre. The foundation foresaw a sea city which would provide facilities for a population of up to 30,000. Mr Davis said that his organisation still contended that its claim to the reef was legal, but did not want at this time to become involved in an ownership squabble with the United Nations. “What we want to do on the reef would provide work for every unemployed man in Tonga for many years,” he said.

Mr Davis also brought a film showing plans for a sea city envisaged in the North Sea within the next 50 years. The plan for Minerva was similar, he said. Mr Davis left Tonga disap-

pointed at not obtaining an audience with the King, but was invited to write to the Tongan Government, stating his proposals. For the flag-raising ceremony, the King sailed secretly at midnight on June 24, aboard the inter-island ferry Olovaha. Accompanying him were members of the new Legislative Assembly, and about 100 guests. The King explained that his intention in claiming the reef was "to forestall any foreign Power from entering the region and sitting on our front door.”

The Tongan island of Ata (80 miles south of Nukualofa) is the nearest land to Minerva, and Nuku’Alofa, the nearest capital of a sovereign independent State. The annexation will increase considerably the Kingdom’s territorial waters, extending her fisheries and oil search areas.

Within the year, beacon lights will mark the new territory. But only time will tell the international fate of Minerva.