George Konrote

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Major General Jioji Konousi Konrote, MC, better known as George Konrote, is a retired Major-General of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces and a former diplomat. From May to December 2006, he was a Fijian Cabinet Minister. He is a native of the island of Rotuma. His days as a pupil at Natabua High School in Lautoka, Fiji, are described in the prize-wnning book on Fiji Kava in the Blood by Peter Thomson.

A career soldier, Major General Konrote enlisted into the RFMF in 1966 and trained with New Zealand and Australian defence forces, and studying at institutions such as the Australian College of Defence and Strategic Studies, at the Australian Defence Force Academy in Canberra, Australia where he became a fellow in 1996, and also at the Kennedy School of Government, at Harvard University in 2000. Rising through the ranks of the Fiji Military, he commanded battalions of Fijian soldiers in their peacekeeping efforts in Lebanon during the Fiji's UNIFIL campaign, and was subsequently appointed Deputy Force Commander of the UNIFIL operation, and finally the United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and Force Commander in Lebanon. In recognition of his contributions in these fields, Major General Konrote was awarded with the UNIFIL Peace Medal (1978), the Military Cross (UK, 1982), the Order of Merit (Italy, 1997), the Order of the Cedar (Lebanon, 1999) and was made an Officer of the Order of Fiji (Military Division) in 1997.

From 2001 to 2006, Konrote served as Fiji's High Commissioner to Australia. After his appointment, equivalent to that of an ambassador, expired at the end of March 2006, and he was elected to represent the Rotuman Communal Constituency at the general election held on 6-13 May 2006, and was subsequently appointed to the Cabinet as Minister of State for Immigration and Ex-Servicemen. His role in this portfolio abruptly ended when the government was deposed in a military coup on 5 December 2006.