David Adeang
David Adeang is a politician on
Nauru. He is a founding member of the
Naoero Amo (Nauru First Party), currently the only successful political party on the island.
Adeang began his political career as a lawyer. In the parliamentary elections of
May 2003, amidst political and economic turmoil, the Naoero Amo won 3 of the 18 seats, and Adeang was one of the elected members. The Naoero Amo entered a
coalition with
Ludwig Scotty and his supporters. Scotty became President and Adeang became
Finance Minister. He was only finance minister for three months however, as in
August 2003 Scotty's government fell, and
Kinza Clodumar became finance minister.
In
April 2004, Adeang was charged with sedition along with
Kieren Keke and
Fabian Ribauw after a protest at Nauru's airport. In
June 2004 Clodumar and the Naoero Amo united to re-elect Scotty President. Clodumar remained finance minister, while Adeang became Minister of Foreign Affairs and Justice. Also, the charges against Adeang and the others were dropped. His appointment as foreign minister is interesting because he is the first foreign minister not to be the President of Nauru. That post had been given to the President since Nauru gained independence in
1968. Adeang was easily re-elected to Parliament from the
Ubenide constituency in the
October 2004 electioins. Later that month, he left the position of justice minister, became finance minister, and retains the position of foreign minister.