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.

Secessionist movement

Solkope was subject to a land ownership dispute as part of a secessionist movement orchestrated by the Molmahao Clan of Noa'tau district, and the micronation Dominion of Melchizedek in the year 2000. According to documents tendered in court [1] pertaining to the case, the native landowner of Solkope Island, Hiagi Apao signed a 99 year sovereign master lease, leasing the land to the Dominion of Melchizedek. This document is said to be signed by both Apao and Tzemach "Ben" David Netzer Korem, the "Head of House of Elders" for the DOM. As there was no legal challenge to this claim, it i still unclear as to whether the land belongs to the native title owner or the the government of the micronation. On the DOM website [2] Solkope is listed as territory to the micronation, although Korem has since been banned from entering Fiji and there is no Dominion of Melchizedek presence on the island nor mention of their claim.

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.