Fiji’s Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, who is due to visit the Cook Islands later in the year, is hoping to reunite with a group of Cook Islands sailors who were held hostage in the Indian Ocean by Tamil Tigers pirates in the late 1980s.

Rabuka will be among regional leaders attending the 52^nd Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting taking place from November 6-10 in Rarotonga.

During his visit, Rabuka is hoping to reunite with the former sailors who were captured and held hostage by the Tamil Tigers around the time when he was the commander of the Fiji Army between 1989-1990.

Rabuka, in an email to Cook Islands Friends of Fiji Inc, said Captain Enele Ma’afu, an ex-Fiji Navy, was the harbour master in Rarotonga at the time.

He was contacted about an international freighter manned by Cook Islands seamen captured in the Indian Ocean by the Tamil Tigers pirates.

Captain Ma’afu had called Rabuka to see if he could help negotiate the sailors’ rescue.

Rabuka managed to speak to the then Sri Lankan army senior officer, Brigadier Sarath Jayawardene, and asked him to try and secure the release of the Cook Islands seamen. 

This was successfully done and the seamen were flown by Sri Lankan government to Wellington, where the Cook Islands Government under the leadership of the late Sir Geoffrey Henry, flew them home to the Cook Islands.

Rabuka is trying to locate the sailors and their names and the name of their hijacked ship for his upcoming book.

He also wishes to meet up with any survivors or their families during his visit in November.

Anyone with any information on these seamen can contact the president of the Friends of Fiji Board, Tangaroa Vakalalabure on davidtangaroa@gmail.com or +682 27919 or 87919 or its general secretary Charles Dakuliga on 54060.