Culture News Blog

The new King of Wallis, Kapiliele (Gabriel) Faupala, 68, was crowned today in front of some 2,000 people, chiefs and officials from the French Pacific islands, as well as New Caledonia.

The ceremony, which was broadcast live on the French Overseas Television network RFO, followed the announcement mid-July from the island's traditional council of ministers, who said Faupala was their choice to succeed late Tomasi Kulimoetoke, who died in May 2007 after a record 48 years of reign.

For the past four years, Faupala had been heading what is locally referred to as the Customary Council of Ministers, a body that enjoys a certain form of recognition from the ruling French authorities under the 1961 status of Overseas Territory signed with France by Kulimoetoke.

Faupala, locally known as the Kalai Ki Valu, is also a retired public servant, in the French administration and the local public works department, where he served until 1995, local television RFO reported at the weekend.

He hails from the village of Ahoa, in the centre of Wallis Island.

The coronation was the culminating point of a series of elaborate traditional ceremonies, involving traditional gifts and a kava ceremony.

The ceremonies, which took place on the main grounds of the capital Mata'Utu (the Marae Sagatosoane, where Tomasi Kulimoetoke was buried in May 2007), also took place in the presence of the French Secretary General to the Administrator Superior of Wallis and Futuna, who is currently out of Wallis.

Faupala has also chosen to retain the name of Lavelua.

A strong delegation also flew from neighboring New Caledonia, which is also home to a 20,000-strong community from Wallis and Futuna.

Included in the New Caledonian delegation was Marie-Claude Tjibaou, who if the Chair of New Caledonia Kanak Culture Development Agency, but also politicians from pro-French parties such as Avenir Ensemble (Future Together, through its President Didier Leroux), Southern Province Chairman Philippe Gomès and a high chief from New Caledonia's Lifou Island, Evanes Boula.

The announcement of Faupal's choice, earlier this month, sparked protests from the other chiefly clans of Wallis, including the royal families that were also presenting candidates for the royal post.

The two main royal families of Wallis, respectively from the North and the South of Wallis Island, had been engaged in a behind-he-scenes tussle for the past three years in order to secure the Royal throne.

But it was finally the choice of the chiefly council that seemed to have prevailed.

Critics of the council's decision said that the much-needed reconciliation between the rivalling families and clans should have taken place before the appointment of a King and not after.

The feuding families, from Hahake and Mu'a (North and South of Wallis), whose respective candidates were finally rejected, also claimed they should have been consulted by the chiefly council and that the choice of the new monarch rested with them.

However, Po'oi Fotofili, the Kulitea, who belongs to the disgruntled royal families clan, on Thursday appealed his own ranks for calm and not to resort to violence.

"We have decided not to move for the time being. We will let this crowning take its own course. We are calling on our people to remain calm in order to maintain peace on the territory. But this doesn't mean that we will just sit back and watch,” he said, hinting a future actions.

One of these, he hinted, would be to hold further meetings and decide on the relevance and feasibility of appointing other Kings on Wallis island.

"I'm calling on the great families to approach representatives of Mu'a, Hahake and Hihifo, in their own districts, so that we can begin discussions and eventually reach the right decision for everyone. Should we have one King for each district, or just one King for all three districts? Should the current situation be reviewed? All this will be put on the table and discussed with all the great families", he asked.

Most of these families chose not to attend Friday's coronation ceremonies.

The two islands of Wallis and Futuna are home to three Kingdoms: one on Wallis and two on Futuna.

The late King of Wallis, Tomasi Kulimoetoke, died in May 2007 aged 87.

He had been crowned in 1959 and had ruled uninterrupted for a record 48 years.

Two years after his coronation, in 1961, Kulimoetoke signed a pact with France that granted both Wallis and Futuna islands the official status of "French Overseas Territory".

Wallis and Futuna islands, located Northeast of Fiji, are populated by around fifteen thousand inhabitants.

Another twenty thousand-strong community from those islands is also residing in New Caledonia (populated by around 230,000).

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