Teburoro Tito (
modern spelling Tiito, pronounced Seetoh) (born 1953) was the
PresidentThe President of Kiribati is the head of state and head of government of Kiribati.Following a general election, by which citizens elect the members of the House of Assembly, members select from their midst "not less than 3 nor more than 4 candidates" for the presidency. No other person may stand...
and foreign minister of
KiribatiKiribati , officially the Republic of Kiribati, is an island nation located in the central tropical Pacific Ocean. It is composed of 32 atolls and one raised coral island, dispersed over 3,500,000 square kilometres, straddling the equator, and bordering the International Date Line to the east.The...
from October 1 1994 to March 28 2003. He was elected for the first time in 1994. He was reelected in 1998 with 52% of the vote. His main opponent was
Harry TongDr. Harry Tong is an I-Kiribati politician.He was first elected to the House of Assembly of Kiribati in 1983, representing the constituency of South Tarawa, the country's capital. He was re-elected in 1987, but resigned from Parliament in 1989, before the end of his term...
, who later ran against his brother, current President
Anote TongAnote Tong is the president of Kiribati. He won the election in July 2003 with a slim plurality of votes cast against his brother, Dr. Harry Tong and the private lawyer Banuera Berina...
. Tito was reelected again in February 2003 with 50.4% of the vote.
Teburoro Tito (
modern spelling Tiito, pronounced Seetoh) (born 1953) was the
PresidentThe President of Kiribati is the head of state and head of government of Kiribati.Following a general election, by which citizens elect the members of the House of Assembly, members select from their midst "not less than 3 nor more than 4 candidates" for the presidency. No other person may stand...
and foreign minister of
KiribatiKiribati , officially the Republic of Kiribati, is an island nation located in the central tropical Pacific Ocean. It is composed of 32 atolls and one raised coral island, dispersed over 3,500,000 square kilometres, straddling the equator, and bordering the International Date Line to the east.The...
from October 1 1994 to March 28 2003. He was elected for the first time in 1994. He was reelected in 1998 with 52% of the vote. His main opponent was
Harry TongDr. Harry Tong is an I-Kiribati politician.He was first elected to the House of Assembly of Kiribati in 1983, representing the constituency of South Tarawa, the country's capital. He was re-elected in 1987, but resigned from Parliament in 1989, before the end of his term...
, who later ran against his brother, current President
Anote TongAnote Tong is the president of Kiribati. He won the election in July 2003 with a slim plurality of votes cast against his brother, Dr. Harry Tong and the private lawyer Banuera Berina...
. Tito was reelected again in February 2003 with 50.4% of the vote. His main opponent was Taberannang Timeon. Tito, however, was deposed by the Parliament in a no confidence vote just one month after his reelection. One of the main reasons for his ejection was his decision to lease an ATR-72-500 aircraft at the government's expense; within six months this lease chewed up eight million
USDThe United States dollar is the unit of currency of the United States. The U.S. dollar is normally abbreviated as the dollar sign, $, or as USD or US$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies and from others that use the $ symbol. It is divided into 100 cents .The U.S...
.
President Tito, through his speeches at the
UNThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and the achieving of world peace...
, interviews with international news media and his active participation at International Climate conferences, began the process of highlighting the detrimental effects of
Global WarmingGlobal warming is the increase in the average temperature of the Earth's near-surface air and oceans since the mid-20th century and its projected continuation. Global surface temperature increased 0.74 ± 0.18 °C during the last century...
on his and other
South PacificOceania is a geographical, often geopolitical, region consisting of numerous lands—mostly islands in the Pacific Ocean and vicinity. The term "Oceania" was coined in 1831 by French explorer Dumont d'Urville...
island nations.
He also brought his country into the limelight dring the 2000 Millennium festivities, by causing it to be the first country to "see tomorrow," after moving the international date line in 1995.