Glossary

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Radha Ramphul -  Mr Radha Krishna Ramphul was a Mauritian diplomat who served as the Permanent Representative of Mauritius to the United Nations in New York from 1969 to 1982.
- Synonyms: Ramphul
Radio Liberty -  An Argentinean radio station that broadcast propaganda to British forces during the 1982 Falklands War.
Radio Marty -  Radio Marti. A radio station financed by the US government that broadcasts propaganda to Cuba.
Radio RSA -  South African radio network aimed at international audiences, founded in 1966 and renamed Channel Africa in 1992.
Radio Spice Islands -  Spice Islands Radio. A radio station broadcasting to Grenada, operation by the US military during the 1983 invasion.
Radley College -  Radley College is a boys’ independent boarding school, near Radley, Oxfordshire.
Rafida Aziz -  Rafidah binti Aziz (b. 1943). Malaysian politician. She was Minister of International Trade and Industry, 1987-2008.
Rahul Bajaj -  Rahul Bajaj (b.1938) is an Indian businessman and political figure. He is chairman of the Indian conglomerate Bajaj Group, founded by his grandfather Jamnalal Bajaj in 1926. Bajaj was elected to the Rajya Sabha (upper house of Indian Parliament) in 2006.
Raila Odinga -  Raila Amolo Odinga (b. 1945). Kenyan politician. He was Prime Minister of Kenya, 2008-13.
Rainbow Warrior -  The Rainbow Warrior was a trawler that had been acquired by the environmental organisation Greenpeace, where she was used as a fundraising ship. In 1985, whilst being used as part of a protest against French Nuclear Testing, she was sunk in the port of Auckland, New Zealand, by the French intelligence service.
Rais Yatim -  Tan Sri Dr Rais Yatim (b.1942) is a Malaysian political figure who served the federal government in several ministerial positions from 1974 to 2013. He was Minister for Foreign Affairs (1986-87, 2008-09), Minister for Culture, Arts and Heritage (2004-08) and Minister for Information, Communication and Culture (1984-86, 2009-13).
Raja Gomez -  Raja Gomez is a Sri Lankan civil servant who joined the Commonwealth Secretariat in 1976 as Assistant Director of the Management Development Division, later becoming Director. From 1984, he was Director of the Commonwealth Youth Programme and in 1992 became Director of Development and Planning for the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.
Rajeshwar Dayal -  Rajeshwar Dayal (1909-1999) was an Indian diplomat who spent much of his career working with the United Nations system, first as India’s Permanent Representative at the UN headquarters in New York (1953-56). He was later member of the United Nations Observation Group in Lebanon (1958) and Head of the UN Operation in the Congo (1960-61). Dayal served as Chair of the Commonwealth Observer Group monitoring the first Zimbabwe elections in 1980, and as Indian Ambassador to Yugoslavia and to France.
Rajiv Gandhi -  Rajiv Gandhi (1944-1991). Indian politician, served as Prime Minister from 1984 to 1989.
Ralph Carnegie -  Ralph Carnegie (1936-2011) was a Jamaica-born legal scholar who served as Professor of Law at the University of the West Indies for over 40 years. Carnegie was Executive Director of the Caribbean Law Institute Centre, an associate institution of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), and served on the Constitution Review Commissions of Grenada and Antigua and Barbuda.
Ralph Gonsalves -  Ralph Gonsalves (b.1946) is a Vincentian politician who was elected Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in 2001. He is leader of the Unity Labour Party (ULP), and has served as an MP in the country since 1994.
Ramphal Commission on Migration and Development -  The Ramphal Commission on Migration and Development was a two year initiative headed by the Hon PJ Patterson, former Prime Minister of Jamaica, and funded by the Ramphal Institute from 2009 to 2011. The Commission produced a report – ‘People on the Move: Managing migration in today’s Commonwealth’ – and completed advocacy work with member states to promote the benefits of international migration for economic and social development.
Ramphal Institute -  The Ramphal Institute is a not-for-profit organisation established in honour of the former Commonwealth Secretary General Sir Shridath Ramphal in 2008. Based in London, UK, the Institute focuses its work on developing knowledge and education practices around social, economic, governance and environmental policy areas, for the benefit of the 54 states of the Commonwealth of Nations.
Rann of Kutch -  The Rann of Kutch is a large region of salt marshes located between Sindh, Pakistan, and the Western tip of Gujarat, India. The territory is disputed between the two countries, with arguments over the border leading, notably, to a series of skirmishes during the 1965 Indo-Pakistani war.
Ransford Smith -  Ransford Smith (b.1949) is a Jamaican public servant who acted as Deputy Secretary General for Economic Affairs and Development in the Commonwealth Secretariat from 2006 to 2013. Smith was previously Jamaica’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva, Rome and Vienna. He was Chairman of the WTO Committee on Trade and Development (2000-01) and President of the Trade and Development Board of the UNCTAD (2005-06).
Rashleigh Jackson -  Rashleigh Esmond Jackson (b.1929) is an influential Guyanese diplomat who joined the Public Service in 1948. In 1969 he was appointed Permanent Secretary of the Minister of External Affairs, and from 1973-8 acted as Permanent Representative of the Republic of Guyana to the United Nations in New York. Jackson then served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1978 to 1990.
Ratu Epeli Nailatikau -  Brigadier-General Ratu Epeli Nailatikau (b.1941) is a Fijian political figure and military leader who became President of Fiji in 2009. Nailatikau was Speaker of the House of Representatives from 2001 to 2006, and served in 2007 as Minister for Foreign Affairs and in 2008 as Indigenous Affairs Minister. Nailatikau was Commander of the Royal Fiji Military Forces at the time of Sitiveni Rabuka’s 1987 coup. Following the coup, he started a diplomatic career and was High Commissioner to the UK and Fiji’s Ambassador to Denmark, Egypt, Germany, Israel and the Holy See.
Ratu Inoke Kubuabola -  Ratu Inoke Kubuabola, b.1948, is a Fijian politician and Cabinet Minister. In 2009 he was named Minister of Foreign Affairs. Kubuabola had previously acted as Minister for Information following the 1987 Fijian coup d’etat, an event he had played a role in organising as a Fijian nationalist. During the 1990s, he served variously as Minister for Youth, Employment and Sports, Minister for Regional Development and Multi Ethnic Affairs, and Minister of Works, Infrastructure and Transport.
Ratu Mara -  Sir Kamisese Mara (1920-2004). Fijian politician. He was Prime Minister of Fiji, 1970-92. Though defeated in the election of 1987, he headed an interim administration following a military coup, until 1992. He was then President of Fiji, 1993-2000.
Ratu Penaia -  Ratu Sir Penaia Ganilau (1918-1993). Fijian politician, Governor-General of Fiji (1983-1987) and President of Fiji (1987-1993).
- Synonyms: Ratu Sir Penaia
Ratu Seru Cakobau -  Ratu Seru Cakobau (1815-1883) was King of Fiji, 1871-1874, uniting the kingdom after nearly two decades of war with rival chiefs. In 1874, threatened by American annexation, Cakobau ceded the Fijian islands to the United Kingdom and transferred the title of Paramount Chief to Queen Victoria.
Raúl Prebisch -  Raúl Prebisch (1901-86). Argentine economist. Along with Hans Singer he developed the Singer-Prebisch thesis on the deterioration of the terms of trade between primary products and manufactures.
Razali Ismail -  Tan Sri Razali Ismail (b.1939) is a Malaysian diplomat who served as his country’s Ambassador to Poland (1978-82) and High Commissioner to India (1982-1985). Ismail has headed Malaysian diplomatic delegations to ASEAN and the Non-Aligned Movement, and from 1996 to 1997 was President of the United Nations General Assembly. As UN Special Envoy to Myanmar, he played a pivotal role in releasing Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest in 2002.
RDP -  Reconstruction and Development Programme. South African reform measures introduced in 1994 by the government of Nelson Mandela.
Record of Understanding -  A 1992 agreement between the South African government and the African National Congress that restarted halted negotiations.
Reg Austin -  Professor Reginald Austin is a Zimbabwean academic who served the Commonwealth Secretariat as Director of Legal and Constitutional Affairs from 1993 to 1998. He had previously been Dean of the Law Faculty at the University of Zimbabwe (1982-92) and Chief Electoral Officer of the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (1992-93). In 1994, he was Director of the Electoral Component, UNOMSA (South Africa).
RENAMO -  RENAMO (Mozambican National Resistance) is a Mozambican political party, founded in 1975 as an anti-Communist organisation. It fought against the Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO) in the Mozambican Civil War (1976-1992) and received military support from South Africa.
Report on Post-Apartheid Human Resource Development -  Human Resource Development for a Post-Apartheid South Africa. A Commonwealth report published in 1991.
Resolution 432 -  United Nations Security Council Resolution 432 was adopted on 27 July 1978 and called for the state of South Africa to relinquish its control of Walvis Bay to Namibia, allowing for the territorial integrity of the nascent independent country.
Resolution 435 -  United Nations Security Council Resolution 435 was adopted on 29 September 1978 and set the conditions for a cease-fire and post-conflict elections in South Africa-controlled South-West Africa. The Resolution was influential in facilitating the independence of Namibia, establishing the United Nations Transition Assistance Group (UNTAG).
Reunification of Germany -  In 1990 the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) joined the German Democratic republic (West Germany), ending the division of the country which had emerged after the Second World War.
Reverend Michael Scott -  The Reverend Michael Scott (1907-1983). British anti-apartheid activist and advocate of Namibian independence.
Rhodesia Front -  Rhodesian political party, formed in 1962, that opposed black majority rule. It was renamed the Republican front in 1981.
Rhodesian Broadcasting Corporation -  Rhodesian state broadcaster, founded in 1963 and renamed Voice of Zimbabwe Rhodesia in 1979.
Richard Bourne -  Richard Bourne (b.1940) is a British journalist, writer and human rights advocate who has acted as Deputy Director of the Commonwealth Institute (1983-89), Director of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (1990-92) and Head of the Commonwealth Policy Studies Unit (1999-2005). He is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, Secretary of the Ramphal Institute, and was a correspondent for The Guardian and deputy editor of the London Evening Standard.
Richard Jolly -  Sir Richard Jolly (b.1934) is a British development economist who served as Assistant Secretary-General of the UN from 1982 to 2000. During the 1970s, he was Director of the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex, returning there as an Honorary Professor and Research Associate following his retirement from the UN.
Richard Luce -  Richard Luce (b. 1936). British politician, served in various ministerial positions in the Foreign Office (1979-1982, 1983-1985).
Richard Nzerem -  Richard Nzerem. Director of the Sir William Dale Centre for Legislative Studies, Institute of Advanced Legal Studies and was the Director of the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Division of the Commonwealth Secretariat.
Risquet -  Jorge Risquet Valdes Saldana (b. 1930). Cuban politician and diplomat, served as a member of the Politbureau (1980-1991) and led the Cuban delegation to the Four-Party meetings on Angola (1987-1988).
Robert Allan Gates -  Robert Allan Gates is a former Guyanese police constable who, during the Walter Rodney Commission of Inquiry inaugurated in 2014, was identified as having infiltrated Rodney’s Working People’s Alliance as a spy on behalf of the Joint Intelligence Command. Following Rodney’s assassination in 1980, Gates continued working with the Guyana Police Force until 1996. At the time of his testimony to the Commission, Gates was serving time in Camp Street Prison for alleged embezzlement of funds.
Robert Champion de Crespigny -  Robert James Champion de Crespigny (b.1950) is an Australian businessman and government advisor who served as Chancellor of the University of Adelaide (2000-04) and Chair of the South Australian Economic Development Board (2002-06). Champion de Crespigny was the founder of Normandy Mining Limited in 1985, with which he remained Executive Chairman for 17 years.
Robert Fellowes -  Robert Fellowes, Baron Fellowes (b. 1941). Private Secretary to Queen Elizabeth II, 1990-99
Robert Jackson -  Robert Victor Jackson (b.1946) was a British political figure who worked as a senior advisor to the Governor of Rhodesia, Lord Soames, during its transition to independence as Zimbabwe. He was later editor of the Round Table Journal (1970-74) and served as MP for Wantage from 1983 to 2005.
Robert Mugabe -  Robert Mugabe (b.1924). Zimbabwean resistance leader and politician. Served as Prime Minister (1980-1987) and President (1987-) of Zimbabwe.
Robert Muldoon -  Sir Robert Muldoon (1921-1992). New Zealand politician and member of the National party. He was Prime Minister, 1975-84.
Robert Rhodes James -  Sir Robert Rhodes James (1933-1999) was a British politician and historian who served as Director of the Institute for the Study of International Organisation at the University of Sussex and later Principal Officer in the Executive Office of the UN Secretary General Kurt Waldheim. He was Conservative Member of Parliament for Cambridge from 1976 to 1992.
Robin Cook -  Robin Cook (1946-2005). British politician, served as Foreign Secretary (1997-2001).
Robin Cooke -  Robin Brunskill Cooke (1926-2006), Baron Cooke of Thorndon, was a New Zealand jurist who served as President of the Court of Appeal from 1976 to 1996. He is the only New Zealand judge to have sat in the British House of Lords, where he was granted a life peerage in 1996.
Robin Jackman -  Robin Jackman (b. 1945). Former English cricketer and commentator, who also played for South Africa in the 1970s.
Robin Renwick -  Lord Renwick of Clifton (b. 1937). British diplomat. Head of Chancery, British Embassy, Washington, 1981-84; Assistant Under-Secretary of State, FCO, 1984-87; British Ambassador to South Africa, 1987-91, and to the United States, 1991-95. Author of 'Unconventional Diplomacy in Southern Africa' (Palgrave, 1997).
Roelf Meyer -  Roelf Meyer (b. 1947). South African politician. Served as a minister in the governments of F.W. De Klerk and Nelson Mandela (1991-1996).
- Synonyms: Rolf Meyer
Roland Brown -  Roland Brown was an English barrister who acted as constitutional adviser to Julius Nyerere and was appointed as the first Attorney General of Tanzania, serving 1964 to 1965. Brown later served as Special Legal Adviser to the Technical Assistance Group, Commonwealth Secretariat.
Roman Grynberg -  Dr Roman Grynberg is an economist who served as Deputy Director of Trade and Regional Cooperation at the Commonwealth Secretariat. He subsequently acted as Manager for Economic Governance at the Pacific Island Forum Secretariat and is a Research Fellow at the Botswana Institute for Development Policy Analysis (BIDPA).
Ron Gould -  Ronald A Gould is a Canadian expert on the organisation and management of elections who spent twenty years with Elections Canada and has worked in more than 60 countries on election assistance missions. Gould was a member of the Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa in 1994 and has participated on observer teams for the Commonwealth Secretariat and the United Nations. In 1997 he joined the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA).
Ronald Reagan -  Ronald Reagan (1911-2004). President of USA (1981-1989).
Ronald Sanders -  Sir Ronald Sanders (b.1948) is a Caribbean political figure and diplomat who has served as Public Affairs Adviser to the Prime Minister of Guyana (1973-76), Deputy Permanent Representative of Antigua and Barbuda to the United Nations (1981-82), and High Commissioner to the United Kingdom for Antigua and Barbuda (1983-87,1995-2004). He was part of the Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group (2010-11) and has held senior positions in UNESCO (1983-87) and as Ambassador to the World Trade Organisation.
Rosalie Abella -  Rosalie Silberman Abella (b.1946) is a Canadian judge who was appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada in 2004. Abella is considered one of Canada’s leading experts on Human Rights Law, and presided over the Royal Commission on Equality in Employment.
Ross Perot -  Ross Perot (b. 1930). American businessman, stood for President as an independent in 1992 and 1996.
Rotary -  Rotary International is an international service organisation that was established in Evanston, Illinois, in 1905. It is a secular organisation that aims to bring together business and professional leaders to support humanitarian services and charity initiatives.
Roundtable of Heads of Government of Commonwealth Africa on Democracy and Good Governance in Africa -  The Roundtable of Heads of Government of Commonwealth Africa on Democracy and Good Governance in Africa took place in Botswana in 1997 and was designed as a follow-up to the Harare Declaration of 1991, assessing the experience of African Commonwealth countries vis-à-vis the promotion of democracy and human rights, the rule of law, the independence of the judiciary and just and honest government. The aspirations of the Harare Declaration were re-affirmed at the meeting, which included representatives of both governing and opposition parties from 18 countries.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police -  The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) is the federal and national police force of Canada. It was established in 1920 and is headquartered in Ottawa.
- Synonyms: RCMP
Royal Commonwealth Society -  The Royal Commonwealth Society is an international educational charity based in London, functioning additionally as a private members’ club. Its main aim is to facilitate the exchange of ideas on public affairs in an international frame, and it supports and promotes the modern Commonwealth of Nations. It was founded in 1868 as the Colonial Society.
Royal Visits Committee -  The Royal Visits Committee is a Cabinet Committee convened to coordinate the programme of official overseas visits for members of the royal family. It is chaired by the Permanent Under Secretary of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and comprised of Private Secretaries to the Queen, the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Cambridge, and Number 10, the National Security Adviser, the Chief Executive of UKTI and the FCO Director of Protocol.
RTLM -  Radio Television Libre des Mille Collines. A Rwandan radio station that broadcast from 1993 to 1994, playing a role in inciting the genocide of 1994.
Rubicon speech -  A speech given in 1985 by South African State President P.W. Botha that disappointed those hoping for major reforms of apartheid and led to international sanctions.
Rudo Chitiga -  Rudo Mabel Chitiga is a Zimbabwean civil servant and diplomat who has served as Deputy-Director of the Commonwealth Foundation and Secretary General of Geneva-based Development Innovations and Networks (IRED). In 2014, she was appointed Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to France.
Rudy Collins -  Dr Rudolph Collins is a Guyanese diplomat who led Guyana’s Foreign Service from 1972 to 1978. He was subsequently Ambassador to Venezuela (1978-84), Director of Administrative Services and then Assistant Secretary General responsible for Human and Social Development in the Caribbean Community Secretariat (1986-96), and Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission overseeing the 1992 elections.
RUF -  The Revolutionary United Front (RUF) was a rebel army that fought a war in Sierra Leone between 1991 and 2002. After peace was established, the RUF became a political party until merging with the All People’s Congress in 2007.
- Synonyms: Revolutionary United Front
Rufaro Stadium -  The Rufaro Stadium is a sports stadium in Harare, Zimbabwe. It hosted Zimbabwe’s independence celebrations in 1980.
Ruhakana Rugunda -  Ruhakana Rugunda (b.1947) is a Ugandan political figure who has held various Cabinet positions under President Yoweri Museveni, including Minister of Foreign Affairs (1994-96), Minister of Internal Affairs (2003-2009), and Minister of Health (2013-14). He was Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 2009-11 and, in 2014, was appointed Prime Minister of Uganda.
Rumman Faruqi -  Rumman Faruqi is an economist and international trade advisor who served as Director of the Economic Affairs Division, Commonwealth Secretariat, from 1993 to 2001. Faruqi was previously a Senior Economist at UNCTAD (1972-79), a Consultant at the United Nations (1982-87) and Senior Advisor to the World Bank (1987-98).
Rupiah Banda -  Rupiah Bwezani Banda (b.1937) is a Zambian diplomat and political figure who served as his country’s President from 2008 to 2011. Banda, an active member of the United National Independence Party, had held a variety of diplomatic posts during the Presidency of Kenneth Kaunda, including to Egypt, the United States, and the United Nations.
Rusty Evans -  Leo Henry “Rusty” Evans. South African politician. Director-General of the South African Department of Foreign Affairs, 1992-97.
Ruth First -  Ruth First (1925-1982). South African anti-apartheid activist, she was assassinated by South African security forces.