Barak Sopé

Barak Tame Sopé Mautamata (born 1955) is a politician from Vanuatu. He is the leader of the Melanesian Progressive Party and a member of the Vanuatu parliament from the island of Efate. He was the Prime Minister of Vanuatu from 1999 until 2001, when he was deposed by Parliament in a no confidence vote.

Sopé was elected Prime Minister in a parliamentary vote on November 25 1999, receiving 28 votes against 24 for Edward Natapei. ["Nov 1999 - New government", Keesing's Record of World Events, Volume 45, November, 1999 Vanuatu, Page 43269.] Shortly after he was deposed on April 13, 2001, he was convicted on 2 charges of forging several million US dollars' worth of Vanuatu Government Guarantees and was sentenced in July 2002 to 3 years on each charge (to be served concurrently), but was pardoned in 2003 despite heavy opposition from Australia and New Zealand. When the coalition government of Serge Vohor was sworn in on July 29 2004, Sopé became Minister of Foreign Affairs. [ [http://www.abc.net.au/ra/pacbeat/stories/s1165743.htm "VANUATU: New cabinet holds a few surprises"] , Radio Australia, July 30, 2004.] He lost that position in November 2004 after he spoke out against Vanuatu's attempts to establish diplomatic relations with Taiwan, reputedly due to his own dealings with the Chinese. He returned to the cabinet in December 2004 when the government of Ham Lini took office, taking up the post of Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

In the September 2008 general election, Sopé lost his seat in Parliament. [ [http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/news/stories/200809/s2359773.htm?tab=pacific "Uncertainty after Vanuatu's general election"] , ABC Radio Australia, September 9, 2008.]

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