Solkope

Solkope is a small island off the southern coast of Rotuma in the Fiji Islands. It is considered to be part of Rotuma along with the several other minor islands: Hatana, Hofliua, Solnohu, and Uea.

ecessionist movement

In 2000 Solkope was the subject of a land ownership dispute, as a consequence of an attempted secession of Rotuma from Fiji which was jointly orchestrated by the Molmahao Clan of Noa'tau district, and the micronation Dominion of Melchizedek. According to documents tendered in court [http://www.paclii.org/cgi-bin/disp.pl/fj/cases/FJHC/2001/61.html?query=apao] pertaining to the case, the native landowner of Solkope Island, Hiagi Apao and Melchizedek's "Head of House of Elders", Tzemach "Ben" David Netzer Korem, concluded a "99 year sovereign master lease agreement", under which control of Solkope was ceded to the "government" of Melchizedek.As at June 2008 the DOM website still lists the island as one of its territories, although Korem is banned from entering Fiji, and there is no Melchizedek presence of any sort on the island.

Mythology

Anthropologist Gordon MacGregor recorded a Rotuman myth concerning Solkope when he visited Rotuma in 1932. The legend, as told to MacGregor by islander Tuirotuma, concerns a rock on the sea-facing side of Solkope. This rock is the tupua' Leptafeke (a tupua is the spirit of a prominent person who now resides in a rock, star, or planet). The Rotuman legend tells that this rock once resided on the island of Haua off the coast of Oinafa. During a great fish drive on Oinafa, Leptafeke's share of the catch was given away. The rock became angry and began to shift itself around Rotuma to get away from Haua. Eventually coming to Solkope, the tupua' decided to settle on the sea-facing side of the island so as to hide from Oinafa.