Iolu Abil – President of Vanuatu
Vanuatu is a Pacific archipelago of 82 small islands, independent since 1980. Prior to that they were jointly managed by the French and British governments in an absurd dual administration where every member had to have a colonial counterpart representing the other empire. Things are simpler now, and instead of two mistrustful colonialists, the islands are represented by President Iolu Abil, seen here in his underpants.
Armchair travellers amongst you may have chanced upon a spectacle from the Republic of Vanuatu. It is the tribal precursor to bungee jumping where men leap from rickety wooden towers with vines tied to their ankles. Vines cut just long enough that their heads brush the ground at the end of their fall, but ideally, not so long that they snap their necks. On one occasion, when a diver leapt out of season for the pleasure of her majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, the insufficiently elastic vines ruptured, and so did the diver’s back. Such is the terrible fate of the visiting foreign dignitary.
There is no record of whether Iolu Abil, or any of his predecessors, have been subjected to a similar spectacle on a return visit to the United Kingdom, but it would be apt to make arrangements. The reciprocal sacrifice of one of the Queen’s subjects would also make great television, if performed with the same aplomb as Vanuatu’s land divers. Until then, Abil joins a host of similarly disrobed dignitaries here.
