Editing Vanuatu (section)

====Lead-up to independence (1945–1980)====
[[File:Flag of New Hebrides.svg|thumb|1966 flag of the Anglo-French Condominium of the New Hebrides]]

Decolonisation began sweeping the European empires after the war, and from the 1950s the Condominium government began a somewhat belated campaign of modernisation and economic development.<ref name="JM"/> Hospitals were built, doctors trained and immunisation campaigns carried out.<ref name="JM"/> The inadequate mission-run school system was taken over and improved, with primary enrollment greatly increasing to be near-universal by 1970.<ref name="JM"/> There was greater oversight of the plantations, with worker exploitation being clamped down on and Ni-Vanuatu paid higher wages.<ref name="JM"/>

New industries, such as [[cattle ranching]], commercial fishing and [[manganese]] mining were established.<ref name="JM"/> Ni-Vanuatu began gradually to take over more positions of power and influence within the economy and the church.<ref name="JM"/> Despite this, the British and French still dominated the politics of the colony, with an Advisory Council set up in 1957 containing some Ni-Vanuatu representation having little power.<ref name="JM"/>

The economic development had unintended consequences. In the 1960s, many planters began fencing off and clearing large areas of bushland for cattle ranching, which were often deemed to be communally-held ''kastom'' lands by Ni-Vanuatu.<ref name="JM"/> On Espiritu Santo, the [[Nagriamel]] movement was founded in 1966 by Chief Buluk and [[Jimmy Stevens (politician)|Jimmy Stevens]] on a platform of opposing any further land clearances and gradual, Ni-Vanuatu-led, economic development.<ref name="JM"/><ref>{{cite web |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-330239351/view?partId=nla.obj-330246081#page/n24/mode/1up |title="Chief President Moses": Man with a message for 10,000 New Hebrideans |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201023094413/https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-330239351/view?partId=nla.obj-330246081#page/n24/mode/1up |archive-date=23 October 2020 |work=Pacific Islands Monthly |date=July 1969 |pages=23–25}}</ref> The movement gained a large following, prompting a crackdown by the authorities, with Buluk and Stevens being arrested in 1967.<ref name="JM"/> Upon their release, they began to press for complete independence.<ref name="JM"/> In 1971, Father [[Walter Lini]] established another party: the New Hebrides Cultural Association, later renamed the [[New Hebrides National Party]] (NHNP), which also focused on achieving independence and opposition to land expropriation.<ref name="JM"/> The NNDP first came to prominence in 1971, when the Condominium government was forced to intervene after a rash of land speculation by foreign nationals.<ref name="JM"/>

Meanwhile, French settlers, and Francophone and mixed-race Ni-Vanuatu, established two separate parties on a platform of more gradual political development – the ''Mouvement Autonomiste des Nouvelles-Hébrides'' (MANH), based on Espiritu Santo, and the ''Union des Communautés des Nouvelles-Hébrides'' (UCNH) on Efate.<ref name="JM"/> The parties aligned on linguistic and religious lines: the NHNP was seen as the party of Anglophone Protestants, and were backed by the British who wished to exit the colony altogether, whereas the MANH, UCNH, Nagriamel and others (collectively known as the 'Moderates') represented Catholic Francophone interests, and a more gradual path to independence.<ref name="JM"/> France backed these groups as they were keen to maintain their influence in the region, most especially in their mineral-rich colony of New Caledonia where they were attempting to suppress an independence movement.<ref name="JM"/><ref name=PIM2>{{cite web |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-332653576/view?partId=nla.obj-332655109#page/n9/mode/1up |title=Bombs, bribery and ballots in New Hebrides |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201023094115/https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-332653576/view?partId=nla.obj-332655109#page/n9/mode/1up |archive-date=23 October 2020 |work=Pacific Islands Monthly |date=January 1976 |page=8}}</ref>

Meanwhile, economic development continued, with numerous banks and financial centres opening up in the early 1970s to take advantage of the territory's [[tax haven]] status.<ref name="JM"/> A mini-building boom took off in Port Vila and, following the building of a deep-sea wharf, cruise ship tourism grew rapidly, with annual arrivals reaching 40,000 by 1977.<ref name="JM"/> The boom encouraged increasing urbanisation and the populations of Port Vila and [[Luganville]] grew rapidly.<ref name="JM"/>

In November 1974, the British and French met and agreed to create [[New Hebrides Representative Assembly]] in the colony, based partly on universal suffrage and partly on appointed persons representing various interest groups.<ref name="JM"/> The first [[1975 New Hebridean general election|election]] took place in November 1975, resulting in an overall victory for the NHNP.<ref name="JM"/> The Moderates disputed the results, with Jimmy Stevens threatening to secede and declare independence.<ref name="JM"/> The Condominium's Resident Commissioners decided to postpone the opening of the Assembly, though the two sides proved unable to agree on a solution, prompting protests and counter-protests, some of which turned violent.<ref name="JM"/><ref>{{cite web |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-332555206/view?partId=nla.obj-332575365#page/n9/mode/1up |title=The Ghost Assembly |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201023093732/https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-332555206/view?partId=nla.obj-332575365#page/n9/mode/1up |archive-date=23 October 2020 |work=Pacific Islands Monthly |date=June 1976 |page=10}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-332540656/view?partId=nla.obj-332564592#page/n10/mode/1up |title=Splinters flying in N. Hebrides |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201023094544/https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-332540656/view?partId=nla.obj-332564592#page/n10/mode/1up |archive-date=23 October 2020 |work=Pacific Islands Monthly |date=May 1976 |page=11}}</ref> After discussions and some fresh elections in disputed areas, the Assembly finally convened in November 1976.<ref name="JM"/><ref>{{cite web |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-332576374/view?partId=nla.obj-332598350#page/n17/mode/1up |title=New Hebrides Assembly meets |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201023100540/https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-332576374/view?partId=nla.obj-332598350#page/n17/mode/1up |archive-date=23 October 2020 |work=Pacific Islands Monthly |date=August 1976 |page=18}}</ref><ref name=PIM5>{{cite web |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-334870300/view?partId=nla.obj-334911874#page/n16/mode/1up |title=New Hebrides Assembly meets – but what's new? |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201023101204/https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-334870300/view?partId=nla.obj-334911874#page/n16/mode/1up |archive-date=23 October 2020 |work=Pacific Islands Monthly |date=February 1977 |pages=17–18}}</ref> The NHNP renamed itself the [[Vanua'aku Pati]] (VP) in 1977, and now supported immediate independence under a strong central government and an [[Anglicisation]] of the islands. The Moderates meanwhile supported a more gradual transition to independence and a federal system, plus the maintenance of French as an official language.<ref name="JM"/>

In March 1977, a joint Anglo-French and Ni-Vanuatu conference was held in London, at which it was agreed to hold fresh Assembly elections and later an independence referendum in 1980; the VP boycotted the conference and the subsequent [[1977 New Hebridean general election|election]] in November.<ref name="JM"/><ref name=PIM>{{cite web |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-335671199/view?partId=nla.obj-335697448#page/n27/mode/1up |title=New Hebrides' new era |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201023092840/https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-335671199/view?partId=nla.obj-335697448#page/n27/mode/1up |archive-date=23 October 2020 |work=Pacific Islands Monthly |date=March 1978 |page=28}}</ref> They set up a parallel 'People's Provisional Government' which had de facto control of many areas, prompting violent confrontations with Moderates and the Condominium government.<ref name="JM"/><ref name=VT>{{cite journal|last1=Van Trease|first1=Howard|title=The Operation of the single non-transferable vote system in Vanuatu|journal=Commonwealth & Comparative Politics|date=9 August 2006|volume=43|issue=3|pages=296–332|doi=10.1080/14662040500304833|s2cid=153565206}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-335670856/view?partId=nla.obj-335672343#page/n4/mode/1up |title=Turmoil in New Hebrides |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201023084750/https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-335670856/view?partId=nla.obj-335672343#page/n4/mode/1up |archive-date=23 October 2020 |work=Pacific Islands Monthly |date=January 1978 |page=5}}</ref>

A compromise was eventually brokered, a Government of National Unity formed under a new constitution, and fresh [[1979 New Hebridean general election|elections]] held in November 1979, which the VP won with a comfortable majority. Independence was now scheduled for 30 July 1980.<ref name="JM"/> Performing less well than expected, the Moderates disputed the results.<ref name="JM"/><ref name=PIM3>{{cite web |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-339025052/view?partId=nla.obj-339027831#page/n12/mode/1up |title=New Hebrides: High hopes haunted by high danger |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201023095111/https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-339025052/view?partId=nla.obj-339027831#page/n12/mode/1up |archive-date=23 October 2020 |work=Pacific Islands Monthly |date=January 1980 |pages=13–14}}</ref>

[[File:Flag of Vemerana.svg|thumb|right|Flag of the short-lived Republic of Vemarana]]

Tensions continued throughout 1980. Violent confrontations occurred between VP and Moderate supporters on several islands.<ref name="JM"/> On Espiritu Santo Nagriamel and Moderate activists under Jimmy Stevens, funded by the American [[libertarian]] organisation [[Phoenix Foundation]], took over the island's government in January and declared the independent Republic of Vemarana, prompting VP supporters to flee and the central government to institute a blockade.<ref name="JM"/><ref>{{cite web | title = Phoenix: ashes to ashes | first = Mike |last=Parsons | work = [[New Internationalist]] | date = July 1981 | url = http://www.newint.org/issue101/phoenix.htm | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100511054249/http://www.newint.org/issue101/phoenix.htm | archive-date = 11 May 2010}}</ref> In May, an abortive Moderate rebellion broke out on Tanna, in the course of which one of their leaders was shot and killed.<ref name="JM"/> The British and French sent in troops in July in a bid to forestall the Vemarana secessionists. Still ambivalent about independence, the French effectively neutered the force, prompting a collapse of law and order on Espiritu Santo resulting in large scale looting.<ref name="JM"/>