Kiribati
The Gilbert Islands were granted self-rule by the UK in 1971 and complete independence in 1979 under the new name of Kiribati. The US relinquished all claims to the sparsely inhabited Phoenix and Line Island groups in a 1979 treaty of friendship with Kiribati.
There is no known threat to foreigners visiting or residing in Kiribati. Kiribati, a parliamentary democracy, became independent from Great Britain in 1979. The country includes three administrative units, sixteen atolls of the former Gilbert Islands; eight atolls of the former Line Islands; and eight atolls of the former Phoenix Islands. Kiribati has few natural resources and its economy is very small. The islands are not self sufficient in food.
President Teburoro Tito was first elected president in 1994, and re-elected in 1998. He espouses for Kiribati the "Pacific Village Way", where traditional values of "deciding and doing things together, caring and sharing, respect for others, family, hospitality, integrity and courage" hold sway. The next Presidential elections are scheduled for 2002.
The president of Kiribati is also head of the government. The parliament has 41 members, one of whom represents islanders from Banaba, who were evacuated because of the phosphate mining and now live on Rabi in Fiji.
Kiribati's economy is weak and largely dependent on world demand for coconut. Fishing licenses, foreign aid and remittances from workers abroad also play their part, as does a trust fund established with revenues from phosphate mining on the island of Banaba. The mines were depleted by 1980, leaving Banaba uninhabitable.
While Kiribati marketed itself as the first inhabited place on Earth to greet the new Millennium on 1 January 2000, prompting a record influx of tourists, tourist facilities are still not widely available.
