Jimmy Stevens, known as "Moses" (1910s or 1920s – 28 February 1994), was a Ni-Vanuatu

Vanuatu

Vanuatu , officially the Republic of Vanuatu , is an island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is some east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, west of Fiji, and southeast of the Solomon Islands, near New Guinea.Vanuatu was...

 nationalist and politician. As leader of the conservative Nagriamel

Nagriamel

Nagriamel is a political movement initially based in the northern islands of the New Hebrides during the late 1970s.Nagriamel called for a focus on the traditional, village-centered way of life for the ni-Vanuatu people, though its messianic leader Jimmy Stevens and his compound in the Fanafo area...

 movement, he declared the independence of Espiritu Santo

Espiritu Santo

Espiritu Santo is the largest island in the nation of Vanuatu, with an area of . It belongs to the archipelago of the New Hebrides in the Pacific region of Melanesia. It is in the Sanma Province of Vanuatu....

 island as the "State of Vemerana" in June 1980 and referred to himself as "prime minister". After the Republic of Vanuatu was granted independence in July, Prime Minister Walter Lini

Walter Lini

Father Walter Hadye Lini was an Anglican priest and the founding Prime Minister of Vanuatu. He was born on Pentecost Island. During the era when Vanuatu was a condominium ruled by the United Kingdom and France, Lini formed the Vanua'aku Pati, which was principally backed by English-speakers...

 deployed Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...

n troops and the revolt was crushed

Coconut War

The Coconut War was a brief clash between Papua New Guinean soldiers and rebels in Espiritu Santo shortly before and after the independence of the Republic of Vanuatu was declared on 30 July 1980.- Background :...

 in August.

At Stevens' trial, it was revealed that Stevens and Nagriamel received US$250,000 from the American-based Phoenix Foundation

Phoenix Foundation

The Phoenix Foundation is a libertarian foundation that has supported numerous attempts which at times have been violent to create independent enclaves based on libertarian principles and tax havens. The foundation was a started by Nevada based real estate millionaire Michael Oliver, his friend...

, a libertarian

Libertarianism

Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...

 group that previously attempted to establish an independent tax-haven state in Abaco Island, the Bahamas

The Bahamas

The Bahamas , officially the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, is a nation consisting of 29 islands, 661 cays, and 2,387 islets . It is located in the Atlantic Ocean north of Cuba and Hispaniola , northwest of the Turks and Caicos Islands, and southeast of the United States...

 in 1973. Stevens was convicted and sentenced to 14 years' imprisonment. In September 1982, Stevens escaped from prison but was recaptured just two days after his escape. Stevens was released from prison on 14 August 1991.

Stevens was of part-European, part-Melanesia

Melanesia

Melanesia is a subregion of Oceania extending from the western end of the Pacific Ocean to the Arafura Sea, and eastward to Fiji. The region comprises most of the islands immediately north and northeast of Australia...

n, and part-Polynesia

Polynesia

Polynesia is a subregion of Oceania, made up of over 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are termed Polynesians and they share many similar traits including language, culture and beliefs...

n descent. He claimed that his father was Scottish

Scottish people

The Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...

 and that his mother was Tongan. He reportedly had 23 wives and fathered four dozen children. He died in Espiritu Santo

Espiritu Santo

Espiritu Santo is the largest island in the nation of Vanuatu, with an area of . It belongs to the archipelago of the New Hebrides in the Pacific region of Melanesia. It is in the Sanma Province of Vanuatu....

of stomach cancer.