Barak Sopé

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Barak Tame Sopé Mautamata (born 1955) is a politician from Vanuatu. He is the leader of the Melanesian Progressive Party and a member of the Vanuatu parliament from the island of Efate. He was the Prime Minister of Vanuatu from 1999 until 2001, when he was deposed by parliament in a no confidence vote. Shortly after he was deposed he was convicted on 2 charges of forging several million US dollars' worth of Vanuatu Government Guarantees and was sentenced in July 2002 to 3 years on each charge (to be served concurrently), but was pardoned in 2003 despite heavy opposition from Australia and New Zealand. When the coalition government of Serge Vohor was sworn in on July 28, 2004, Sopé became foreign minister of Vanuatu. He lost that position in November 2004 after he spoke out against Vanuatu's attempts to establish diplomatic relations with Taiwan, reputedly due to his own dealings with the Chinese. He returned to the cabinet in December 2004 when the government of Ham Lini took office, taking up the post of minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, which he still holds.