The Rabi Council of Leaders and Elders is the municipal body administering Rabi Island

Rabi Island

Rabi is a volcanic island in northern Fiji. It is an outlier to Taveuni , in the Vanua Levu Group. It covers an area of 66.3 square kilometers, reaching a maximum altitude of 463 meters and has a shoreline of 46.2 kilometers...

, in Fiji

Fiji

Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...

. The 8-member Council has two representatives from each of Rabi's four villages. The Council chooses a Chairman, and also selects one of its own members to represent the community in the Kiribati

Kiribati

Kiribati , officially the Republic of Kiribati, is an island nation located in the central tropical Pacific Ocean. The permanent population exceeds just over 100,000 , and is composed of 32 atolls and one raised coral island, dispersed over 3.5 million square kilometres, straddling the...

 parliament. (The Rabi Islanders, though Fijian citizens, still carry Kiribati passports and retain official ownership of Banaba Island

Banaba Island

Banaba Island , an island in the Pacific Ocean, is a solitary raised coral island west of the Gilbert Island chain and 300 km east of Nauru. It is part of the Republic of Kiribati. It has an area of 6.5 km², and the highest point on the island is also the highest point in Kiribati, at 81...

, whence they or their ancestors came). The Council has its main office in the Fijian capital, Suva

Suva

Suva features a tropical rainforest climate under the Koppen climate classification. The city sees a copious amount of precipitation during the course of the year. Suva averages 3,000 mm of precipitation annually with its driest month, July averaging 125 mm of rain per year. In fact,...

.

It was announced in January 2006 that the Rabi Council would be merged with the that of Kioa

Kioa

Kioa is an island in Fiji, an outlier to Vanua Levu, one of Fiji's two main islands. Situated opposite Buca Bay, Kioa is a freehold by settlers from Tuvalu, who came between 1947 and 1983...

. Misieli Naivalu, the Commissioner for Fiji's Northern Division

Northern Division, Fiji

The Northern Division is one of four Divisions into which Fiji's fourteen Provinces are grouped for local government purposes. The administrative centre of the Division, where main governmental departments are located, is Labasa....

 said on 23 January that Cabinet

Cabinet (Fiji)

Fiji has the Westminster system - executive authority is vested nominally in a President, but exercised in practice by a Cabinet of Ministers, presided over by the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister is formally appointed, but not chosen, by the President: the President must appoint as Prime...

had decided on the 15th that both islands would benefit from the merger of their councils.