Reuters AlertNet - Nauru

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NAURU

Capital
There is no official capital, but most government offices are situated in Yaren district.

Area
Nauru is a coral island 6 km long by 4 km wide, which lies in the central Pacific near Micronesia, about 40 km south of the equator.

Language
English is the official language, but Nauruan is also spoken.

POLITICAL PROFILE | HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDICATORS | ECONOMIC INDICATORS | MILITARY STATISTICS | COMMUNICATIONS

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DETAILS

Population
13,000 (2002)

Ethnic group
The Nauruan people are mainly of mixed Polynesian, Micronesian and Melanesian origin. More than half the population are Nauruan; the rest are other Pacific Islanders (workers from Tuvalu and Kiribati), with smaller numbers of Chinese, Australians, Aotearoans and Europeans.

Religion
Christian, mostly of Nauruan Protestant Church.

Climate
Tropical with a westerly monsoon season from November to February.

Currency
Australian dollar

Time zone
GMT +12

Public holidays
2004: Jan 1, 31, April 9-12, May 17, Oct 26, Dec 25-26

Electricity
110/240 V AC, 50Hz

Travel rules
All visitors must have a valid passport, visa, return ticket and a proof of hotel bookings. Tourist visas are issued for a maximum of 30 days. A transit visa is required by all except those continuing their journey within 72 hours and holding confirmed entry documents for their next destination.

Driving
National or international driving licence required. Traffic drives on the left. Animals and pedestrians walking in the road make night driving on unlit secondary roads hazardous.

Health rules
Hepatitis A, rabies, typhoid, tetanus-diphtheria and measles immunisation recommended. Precautions: All food should be well cooked. Drink only bottled or boiled water. Avoid tap water, drinking fountains and ice cubes.

Source: Europa World Year Book 2003; NI World Guide 2003/2004

POLITICAL PROFILE

Nauru was originally populated by migrating Polynesian, Micronesian and Melanesian people, organised in 12 clans.

A British sailor, John Fearn, was the first European to visit Nauru, in 1798. He called it Pleasant Island.

The German Second Reich annexed the island in 1888 before it was found to have lucrative guano. The phosphate-rich rock is made up of bird droppings amassed over hundreds of years and is used for making fertiliser. At the beginning of the World War One, Australian forces captured Nauru and continued to administer it until 1942, when it was briefly occupied by the Japanese. In 1947 it was placed under U.N. trusteeship, with Australia as the administering power on behalf of the governments of Australia, New Zealand and Britain.

In anticipation of the progressive exhaustion of the island�s phosphate deposit, the U.N. Trusteeship Council proposed in 1964 that Nauru's indigenous people should be resettled on Curtis Island, off the Queensland coast. Nauruans rejected this, deciding to stay on their island and seek autonomy.

Nauru was accorded a considerable measure of self-government in 1966, with the establishment of legislative and executive councils, and it declared independence on January 31, 1968. It is the world's smallest republic.

The Head Chief of Nauru, Hammer de Roburt, was elected the first president in May 1968. He continued to dominate the political scene until 1976, when for two years he lost his majority to Bernard Dowiyogo of the Nauru Party, only to regain it again until 1986.

Since then, the presidency has wavered back and forth between de Roburt, Dowiyogo, Lagumot Harris, Kennan Adeang, Klinza Clodumar and Rene Harris, who was elected in April 2000.

The imminent exhaustion of the phosphate mines -- the island�s main source of income -- has played a major role in determining the duration of each presidency. With no other export industry to turn to, Nauru has been accused of involvement in money laundering as it looks for new forms of revenue.

A 1989 U.N. report listed Nauru as one of the countries that might disappear in the 21^st century as a result of the greenhouse effect -- the heating of the earth�s atmosphere and a resultant rise in sea level. This prompted the Nauru government to seek full Commonwealth and U.N. membership in 1999, in order to play a more prominent role in the issues of international politics that directly concern the island. Consequently, Nauru was chosen to host the Pacific Islands Forum summit scheduled for 2001. In September 2001, Nauru agreed to take more than 300 mainly Afghan asylum seekers while the United Nations processed their applications. In exchange, Australia, which had denied entry to the vessel carrying the refugees when it was stranded in the Indian Ocean, agreed to supply Nauru with diesel fuel and power generators and to write off outstanding medical bills for its citizens in Australia.

HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDICATORS

Infant mortality
25 per 1,000 live births (2001)

Life expectancy
58.4 years male, 65.6 years female (2003)

Illiteracy
1 percent men and women (1993-1995) (estimated)

Access to basic care
95-100 percent (access to essential drugs) (1999)

Source: UNDP Human Development Report 2003

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

GDP
$34 million (estimated)(2003)

Per capita
$5,000 (estimated) (2001)

Growth
3.0 percent (2001)

Debt
$33.3 million (2003)

Source: CIA World Factbook 2003; Europa World Year Book 2003

MILITARY STATISTICS

Armed forces
Nauru has no defence forces. Under an informal arrangement, Australia is responsible for the country's defence.

Source: Europa World Year Book 2003

COMMUNICATIONS

Civil aviation
Air Nauru operates services to Kiribati, Fiji, New Caledonia, Solomon Islands, Guam, Palau, the Phillippines, the Federated States of Micronesia, Hawaii, Australia and New Zealand from the airport situated in Yaren district.

Railways
There are 5.2 km of 0.9-m gauge railway, used to transport phosphates from centre of the island to processing facilities.

Roads
A 30-km long road circles the island.

Telecomms
1,800 main telephone lines in use (2000)

Source: Europa World Year Book 2003

(Country Profiles on AlertNet have been compiled by Reuters bureaux around the world and from other named sources).

Copyright � 2001 AlertNet.

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