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SPC’s deputy director-general dies unexpectedly
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Posted on Aug 01 2008
The Deputy Director-General of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community, Falani Aukuso, died unexpectedly at his Suva home on Thursday, July 31.
In announcing his passing, Dr. Jimmie Rodgers, Director-General of SPC, expressed his deep sympathy and prayers for Aukuso’s family. He said the loss of the Deputy Director-General’s warm and generous spirit would be deeply felt by the Tokelau people and by his friends and colleagues throughout the Pacific Community, of which he had been a dedicated servant.
Details of funeral arrangements are yet to be announced, but Rodgers said a memorial service is planned for early next week in Suva, Fiji, to be followed by services at SPC’s headquarters in Noumea and at its Northern Pacific office in Pohnpei. Further information will be available when these arrangements are finalized.
Aukuso, who was born in Tokelau and who was also a citizen of New Zealand, was appointed SPC’s Suva-based Deputy Director-General in 2006. In addition to leading the Suva Regional Office, he focused on meeting the special needs of small island states. As a Tokelauan, this was a cause he personally understood and with which he closely identified.
Earlier, Aukuso was Director of Education in Tokelau and in 1990 joined the New Zealand Ministry of External Relations & Trade as a diplomatic officer. In 1994, he returned to Tokelau to head the Office of the Council of Faipule (Cabinet). In 2004, he became the General Manager of the newly established National Office of the Government of Tokelau. He left this post in 2006 to serve the wider Pacific region through SPC. [B][I](SPC)[/I][/B]
