The World - News from Dec. 22, 1988
Vanuatu President George Ati Sokomanu was charged with inciting mutiny after reportedly urging security forces to support his attempt to set up a rival government in the South Pacific island state. Sokomanu, president since the nation’s 1980 independence from a joint Anglo-French administration, tried to create a rival government to that of Prime Minister Walter Lini, swearing in his nephew Barak Sope as interim premier over the weekend. Then, prosecutors said, Sokomanu urged the police and paramilitary forces of the 145,000-population island chain to switch their loyalty.
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