Isikia Savua, Fijian diplomat and police commissioner died he was , 59

Isikia Rabici Savua was a senior Fijian diplomat, who had a distinguished career in the Military and police forces before taking up his last post as Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations on 4 March 2003.

(Born 31 March 1952 - 30 May 2011)

Career

Savua spent 18 years in the Fijian army, which he joined on leaving high school in 1971. When he retired from Military service in 1998, he had attained the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.
The following four years (1988 - 1992) were spent in the Fiji Diplomatic Corps, first as Counsellor (political) to the Fiji Mission to the United Nations, and then (for six months) as Consul General to Sydney, Australia.
In 1992, Savua joined the Fiji Police Force as Deputy Commissioner, the second highest position in the force. A year later, he was promoted to the post of Commissioner. He was to hold this top office until 2002.

Coup controversy

The Fiji coup of 2000, in which saw the fall of the government of Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry and President Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, took place during Savua's tenure as Police Commissioner. In an interview with Fiji Television on 29 April 2001, his last media appearance before being incapacitated by a stroke, Mara accused Savua of having been a party to the planning of the coup. This allegation was later repeated on 22 October 2004 under parliamentary privilege by Senator Adi Koila Nailatikau, Mara's daughter, who condemned his appointment as an Ambassador while still under investigation for alleged coup-related offences. Savua was not been charged with any crime, and while alive denied the allegations.

Personal life

Savua hailed from the village of Tobu in the district of Nakorotubu, in Ra Province, and was married to Frances, with whom he has two sons, Daniel and Josefa.

Death

Savua died on 30 May 2011. He will be cremated on June 3.

Henri Chammartin was a Swiss equestrian and Olympic champion. He won an individual gold medal in dressage at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
(July 30, 1918 – May 30, 2011)
In 1968, he and fellow equestrian Gustav Fischer both became the second Swiss sportspersons to compete at five Olympic Games. (The first was middle-distance runner Paul Martin.) At the Summer Olympics of 1968 made in Mexico City, his last Olympics, won his fifth medal: a bronze medal in team competition, finishing ninth in addition to the individual test.
Following Chammartin's death, the International Equestrian Federation said in a statement that he will be remembered as "a legend in the dressage world" (as reported by Olympic news outlet Around the Rings.

 

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