Papua New Guinea and Bougainville appear no closer to the tabling in the National Parliament of the referendum on independence.

The non-binding referendum, conducted in 2019, as required by the Bougainville Peace Agreement of 2001, resulted in 97.8 percent of voters supporting independence for a region torn apart by civil war in the 1990s.

It was to be tabled and ratified last year but was delayed further by the threat of a no-confidence vote in the Marape government, which has led to Parliament not sitting again until the last week of May.

A sticking point for both parties are the conditions under which MPs would vote on ratification.

Bougainville believes this should require a simple parliamentary majority but the PNG Minister of Bougainville Affairs, Manasseh Makiba, has set a two-thirds majority of MPs — an absolute majority.

The Bougainville minister overseeing the implementation of independence, Ezekiel Masatt, believes this is not valid, at this point, but would be later, when a constitutional amendment becomes necessary.

Masatt has also warned that ratification of the referendum is not Bougainville’s only path to independence.

Close to completing constitution
He said Bougainville is close to completing the writing of its own constitution and using this document, it could declare its independence, bypassing the PNG Parliament.

“Having that constitution we would be following in the footsteps of Papua New Guinea in adopting that constitution and then getting independence by adopting that independent constitution,” Masatt said.

“And the precedent is Papua New Guinea. We are not doing anything unlawful. That is how Papua New Guinea attained its independence from Australia.”

The second draft of the Bougainville constitution is due at the end of this month.

Meanwhile, Masatt is pursuing the plan for a moderator to be brought in to solve the issues holding up progress.

Bougainville has a timetable laid out to achieve its goal of independence by 2025 at the earliest, or 2027 at the latest.

Moderator would be beneficial
Masatt said to overcome the delay a working moderator would be beneficial, and that role could be much broader than the referendum issue.

“Every time we vote at a JSB [meeting of the Joint Supervisory Body involving both governments] we make commitments and we say all these things need to be attended to and when we come back to the next JSB the same issues are still littering the JSB agenda, because apparently nobody has worked on it.”

Masatt believes this working moderator could provide expert conflict resolution skills, and would bring staff who could deal with the other issues not confined to a ratification agenda, but the general autonomy issues affecting Bougainville’s relationship with Port Moresby.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Bougainville President Ishmael Toroama has called on Prime Minister James Marape to spell out “clearly and honestly” his fears about Bougainville obtaining independence from Papua New Guinea.

Toroama made this call over the PNG government’s delay of the referendum ratification process, which has been stalled beyond the required period for Parliament to give its blessing under the provisions of the Bougainville Peace Agreement (BPA).

The national government and ABG convened the Joint Supervisory Body (JSB) meeting in Port Moresby yesterday where Marape and Toroama both addressed the members.

“Honourable Prime Minister what is your fear? Toroama asked. “What is your apprehension?

“Is it that we will have nothing to do with PNG? Is it to do with the rest of the country seeking the union of PNG?

“Is it that you no longer take our referendum seriously?

“I appeal that we resort to our Melanesian customs, values, strengths which will continue to serve us.

‘Ultimate cry for freedom’
“Honourable Prime Minister, our position on this ratification pathway is simple.

“Bougainvilleans have voted for independence. That is the outcome that the BPA talks about as being subject to the ratification of the national Parliament; and that is the outcome that the national Parliament has to confirm, endorse, sanction, finalise, or ratify, according to Melanesian culture and protocol,” Toroama said.

“Honourable Prime Minister, we must not forget that Bougainville’s journey as a result of the conflict and the ultimate cry for freedom, self-determination and independence has been long, challenging and without a doubt, costly.

“More than 20,000 lives have been lost, infrastructure demolished to basically nothing and the rule of law, while being reconstructed slowly, mainly exists through traditional laws and systems.”

However, said President Toroama, on 30 August 2001, a peace deal had been secured by the people of Bougainville with the government of Papua New Guinea.

“It stopped a decade old conflict, established an autonomous government, and guaranteed a referendum to be held after 10 years but no later than 15 years.

“This was the Bougainville Peace Agreement — a peace deal that has been hailed as a great success story.

“Many years have gone by and the novelty of it all has rubbed off to some extent, yet its real value lies in the unknown nature of the referendum pillar of the agreement.

“The people of Bougainville have democratically exercised their constitutionally guaranteed right to choose their future and have voted for independence through a stunning 97.7 percent vote.”

Republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Papua New Guinea’s Minister of Bougainville Affairs, Manasseh Makiba, believes an absolute majority is needed for the vote on the Bougainville referendum because it involves changing the constitution.

Makiba told Parliament last month that two thirds of MPs would need to support the independence push, drawing the ire of Bougainville’s Minister of Independence Mission Implementation Ezekiel Massatt.

Massatt said officials from both governments had already agreed that a simple majority would suffice.

Last month Massatt told RNZ Pacific that what transpired in the last session of Parliament gave the Bougainville leadership no confidence that they could achieve independence under a government led by Prime Minister James Marape.

But Makiba said the Bougainville Peace Agreement and the Constitution allowed for Parliament to make a decision on the 2019 Bougainville referendum which resulted in a 97.7 percent vote in favour of independence.

The National newspaper reports Makiba saying that, as an issue of sovereignty, the vote on Bougainville’s future has to be done with the same majority as that required for constitutional amendments.

He said officials had overstepped their authority in making a commitment to a simple majority.

Prerogative of Parliament
Makiba said it remained the prerogative of the Parliament to make its decision as to the appropriate voting majority.

He also rejected claims from Massatt that the national government was putting up roadblocks.

Makiba said the national government had been very supportive and committed to implementing the provisions of the Bougainville Peace Agreement and the PNG Constitution.

He said leaders needed to refrain from misleading people with the wrong information.

“The people must hear the correct information and the process and rule of law must be respected, followed, and upheld at all times,” he said.

“If certain leaders are not happy with the ratification process proposed to the Parliament to debate and adopt by way of Sessional Order they have the option to go to the Supreme Court to get interpretation on the ratification process,” he said.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) wants to delay the next meeting of the Joint Supervisory Body with the Papua New Guinea government, claiming Port Moresby is “dragging the chain” on drawing up critical constitutional regulations..

The key focus of the ABG is on achieving independence by 2027 by the latest.

This latest dispute comes despite both governments committing last April to the Era Kone Covenant which lays out how the independence referendum results would be tabled in the national Parliament, and the manner in which that institution may ratify the results.

At that time Bougainville President Ishmael Toroama commended the national government for its unwavering support for the Bougainville Peace Process.

He said the Era Kone Covenant laid out a timeline and a roadmap for the ratification of the referendum results in the national Parliament.

PNG Prime Minister James Marape at the time reaffirmed his commitment to the outcomes, saying his government would continue to work within the spirit of the peace agreement.

“We’ve established a pathway that we should work towards and we on the national government side, I just want to assure Bougainville that it doesn’t matter who sits in this chair in 3 months’ time, the work for Bougainville has been set and the work we have set will continue on,” Marape said.

Failed to engage
But a national government’s technical team has since failed to engage with its Bougainville counterparts to develop a jointly agreed draft of the regulations.

ABG Minister Ezekiel Masatt said this week this lack of commitment from the national government has frustrated the ABG leadership and prompted its call for a deferral of the Joint Supervisory Body meeting.

The PNG government, and its technical team, have called for nationwide consultations on the Bougainville issue, but Masatt said the ABG’s position was that ratification of the outcome of the consultation on independence was for the national Parliament and not all the citizens of PNG.

He said there was no legal basis for such a proposed nationwide consultation.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

In all of the meandering years in the life of Papua New Guinea, 2021, which ended on Friday has to be it.

The colours were there, the love and laughter were there, the sadness, emotions, losses, highs and lows, the bleakness of our long-suffering population and blackness of ethereal poor governance were all intertwined with making 2021 standout.

In a nutshell, 2021 will be remembered as the year that shook PNG to the core.

The biggest and most enduring life changer was covid-19. Like a thief in the night, it descended on our lives. It robbed our children of their innocence. It stopped our businesses dead in their tracks. It stole our bread. It stole the breath of our nation builders.

This year, we will still be waking, walking and wandering with covid-19. It was and is the most tumultuous health issue ever, hovering over the gardener in a remote valley to a bush driver in a town to a business executive in the city.

Big or small, rich or poor, we all face the same anxiety.

Covid-19 was on everyone’s lips and in everyone’s ears. It is a global event that is still unraveling and we cannot predict what it holds for us in 2022.

The Kumul will fly
Now you can’t go anywhere without a face mask. But we must rise to the occasion. We must be resilient like our forefathers. We must face it. The Kumul will fly.

So many of our fathers and forefathers left us over the past year. Men, who walked and talked with giants, whose dreams and aspirations – covid-19 or not – we must carry in our hearts and move forward. That is the challenge that awaits our bones in 2022.

Sir Mekere Morauata (2020), Sir Pita Lus, Sir Philip Bouraga, Sir Paulias Matane, Sir Ramon Thurecht, Sir Ronald Tovue and the Chief of Chiefs, GC Sir Michael Thomas Somare.

One could only wonder as we wandered, tearfully from “haus krai” to the next mourning house. Why?

In one swoop, 2021 took our history book and shook the knights of our realm out of its pages.

Men whose colourful and storied existence led to the birth of our nation. How said indeed it is that a country loses its foundation so suddenly. Shaken to the core.

While mainland PNG mourned the loss of Sir Mekere, Kerema MP Richard Mendani, Middle Fly MP Roy Biyama and recently Middle Ramu MP Johnny Alonk, Bougainville was not spared.

The island is reeling from losing its Regional MP Joe Lera and just two weeks ago, Central Bougainville MP Sam Akoitai. Our leadership shaken to the core!

Historic year for PNG
This is also a historic year for PNG. Sixty-four years after Sir Michael shook his fist at Australia and demanded: “Let my people go,” Bougainville has done the same, voting overwhelmingly to secede from PNG in a referendum.

Two weeks ago, its president declared: “Let my people go!” Shaken to the core!

Ethnic violence — 1000 tribes in distress with violence becoming an everyday happening, Tari vs Kerema, Kange vs Apo, Kaimo vs Igiri, Goi vs Tari, threatening the very fabric of our unity. Our knights in their freshly dug tombs would be turning in their graves.

Family and Sexual Violence against women and children and the ugly head of sorcery related violence.

I mean, how dare we call ourselves a Christian nation and tolerate such evil? How dare you men accuse our women, mothers, sisters and daughters, and murder them in cold blood?

What more can we, as a newspaper say? We have spent copious amounts of sheet and ink, more than enough on these issues, we have raised our anger, we have commiserated with those in power about these issues. The message is not getting through to the men of this nation. Where have all the good men gone?

Spectre of ‘pirate’ Tommy Baker
Law and order wise, the name Tommy Baker raises the spectre of piracy, armed robbery, shootouts with law enforcement and a million kina manhunt that has failed to corner Baker.

Until he was shot dead by police, the self-styled pirate was still out there in Milne Bay, hiding, abiding in time, waiting to strike again.

The Nankina cult group on the Rai Coast and its murderous rampage also shocks us, as a reminder of the Black Jisas uprising gone wrong, two decades before.

Add the consistent and constant power blackouts in the major cities and towns. This is hardly a sign of progress, especially when the management of the major power company PNG Pawa Ltd has been changed three times!

However, yes, we need to remember this too. In our topsy turvy perennial spin, some of the major positive developments need to be mentioned.

The giant Porgera Mine was shut down and promised to be reopened, Ok Tedi, Kumul, BSP and IRC all handed the government a gold card standard in millions of kina dividends.

And the government has signed for a gold refinery in PNG for the first time.

22 billion kina budget
The passing of a 22 billion kina (about NZ$9.2 billion) budget. That is, in the finest words of my best friend Lousy, preposterous. Never before has the budget being built around such a humongous money plan.

Spending is easy but raising it sounds very challenging. Therein lies the challenge.

The most important part is to ensure this money plan reaches the unreached, that service delivery will go where the ballot boxes, somehow manage to reach on election days.

One noticeable explosion of knowledge is the awareness of social communications platforms. For better or worse, Facebook has taken a stranglehold of the lives of ordinary Papua New Guineans.

Communication around the country has changed overnight at the touch of a button or dial of a mobile phone.

In sport – the heart of the nation missed a beat when star Justin Olam was overlooked in the Dally M awards. A major uproar in PNG and popularly support down under forced the organisers to realign the stars. Justin easily pocked the Dally M Centre of the Year.

The good book the Holy Bible, says there is a season for everything. Maybe we are in a judgement season, being tried and tested and refined. Only we can come out of that judgement refined and define the course of our country – from Land of the Unexpected to the Land of the Respected!

We will remember the 365 days of you, as the jingle fiddles our imagination, we were “all shook up!”

Patrick Levo is a senior PNG Post-Courier journalist. Republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Full independence will be top of the agenda pledges Ishmael Toroama, the newly elected president for the Autonomous Region of Bougainville.

Straight after his declaration yesterday at Hutjena in Bougainville, President-elect Toroama, a former rebel commander during the Bougainville civil war of the late 1980s, said he was looking forward to consulting with the PNG government to drive home the will of Bougainvilleans for independence.

But immediately after the return of writs for all seats, he said he would roll out a 100-day plan following the forming of his cabinet.

“After the return of the writs, I will then see and fully understand who the people have voted in and start allocating ministries,” he said.

“This goes to the members who have retained their seats. I will screen and check them out whether they have participated well in their previous ministries or not in order to give them ministries.”

President-elect Toroama also highlighted that he would like to rearrange the public service within the first 100 days to put in place strategies to help the people of Bougainville.

He said this election, which had been held just after the independence referendum, was about the same issue – independence – which he said had been going on for quite a while now.

Independence the right of the people
“In fact, in this election independence has been the right of the people, for them to be democratically free … the vote has just been spelled out to bring us to some kind of numbers but consultation with the national government is still around.”

He said he was sizing up and looking at his government to play that vital role in embracing the people’s will to talk about independence.

“It gives us a good opportunity to select those who have voted us into Parliament so that we can pursue and strengthen the development happening in Bougainville through consultation.”

Toroama has also extended an “olive oil branch” to rival candidates if they wanted to work with him to create a peaceful Bougainville.

“They are most welcome,” he said. “They are leaders on their own rights and it is something for us to sit down and discuss and see what we can come up with and fit those people who’ve run the race with me.”

‘Corruption-free’ administration
The National’s Miriam Zarriga reports that President-elect Ishmael Toroama is expected to be sworn in tomorrow in Buka before he forms a caretaker government and sets in motion his plans for a “corruption-free” administration.

The 51-year-old former Bougainville Revolutionary Army commander was declared the winner on 51,317 votes after the 23rd elimination on Tuesday night, beating former Central Bougainville MP Simon Dumarinu who had 33,088 votes.

“I am honoured to get this seat. I salute our good Lord for making things happen,” he told The National from Buka yesterday.

“It is my great honour to serve my people of Bougainville,”

The writs of the 2020 Bougainville election are expected to be returned to the Speaker Simon Pentanu in the House of Representatives today, marking the end of the election, and the end of the previous administration.

Toroama will then pick a male and a female elected member to be part of his caretaker government.

They will be sworn in by Justice Sir Kina Bona, the resident judge in Buka tomorrow.

Victory dedicated to Francis Ona
In an early interview with the PNG Post-Courier yesterday morning, Toroama battled tears as he remembered the late Francis Ona and Joseph Kabui’s dream for Bougainville as he was preparing to be declared president-elect.

President Toroama, in the company of his three children, said he would honour the late Ona’s dream which he held on to – and this was independence and restricting the use of alcohol.

Toroama said as he was closely associated with Ona and two things he always talked about were alcohol and independence.

“One of the two things the late Francis Ona always talked about with me and my team was alcohol drinking,” he said.

“It was something I said [that I would] do if I take the seat and that would be to make sure that alcohol will be served only in hotels, that’s one thing mi laik mekim long behalf blong em taim mi kisim seat.

“I will use my powers to stop this! And the other one [Ona talked about] is independence. I want to say that we are still struggling along the way but every struggle we make, there is a victory, every fight that we fight there is always a victory, without a fight, there is no victory!

“So I must say, what we struggled for, there is hope for achievement now, and this will be high on agenda when we start consulting with the national government forward.”

Toroama paid tribute to the late reclusive leader Francis Ona and said he could now implement Ona’s dream which was independence for Bougainville.

He also paid tribute to the late Joseph Kabui, whom he also served.

Congratulations from Marape
The Post-Courier reports that Prime Minister James Marape had congratulated Ishmael Toroama on his success.

“Congratulations of the highest order to Ishmael Toroama. Your win was conclusive and I offer my support to work with you to deliver on my commitments to Bougainville,” Marape said.

“Let me appreciate also the hard efforts of outgoing President Dr John Momis for his undying and untiring efforts for people empowerment both in Bougainville and greater PNG. Your legacies and ideologies will live on.”

This composite article is drawn from reports from The National and PNG Post-Courier with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

ANALYSIS: By Ben Bohane

On November 23 this year, Bougainvilleans will vote in a referendum to decide whether they wish to stay part of Papua New Guinea or become an independent nation.

It is perhaps the high point of a 20-year peace process that followed a gruelling, 10-year battle for independence waged between the Bougainville Revolutionary Army and PNG Defence Force.

The referendum is not the final step ­– the vote must be ratified by the PNG Parliament and is subject to a final agreement between PNG and the Autonomous Government of Bougainville, set up under the peace process.

However, Bougainvilleans have long held a sense of separate identity from the rest of PNG, and it appears this island group of 300,000 people is heading for nationhood, with a clear majority expected to vote in favour of independence.

READ MORE: Ben Bohane wins $10,000 Bougainville mission grant for Pacific journalism

This puts Australia in a tricky position, given its close relationship with PNG. With rising geopolitical tensions in the region as China asserts its interests and courts Pacific territories, including Bougainville, Australia has less room to manoeuvre than it once did.

Australia has a vested interest in seeing this long-running issue resolved peacefully.

Bougainville was part of Australian-administered PNG from 1915 until PNG’s independence in 1975. Australia’s relations with the territory have a long and complicated history ranging across the colonial era, two world wars, the 1988–98 Bougainville conflict, and subsequent peacekeeping missions.

Since the Bougainville war, Canberra invested heavily in various peacekeeping operations, at considerable cost to the Australian taxpayer. The Bougainville peace process has been rightly lauded as a successful model, and Australia can be proud of its record, whatever the criticisms of its role in the war.

The November referendum is in keeping with a process laid out in the Bougainville Peace Agreement, signed by virtually all parties in 2001, as a roadmap for Bougainville’s future status.

Canberra has since signalled that it will be guided by the terms of the peace agreement and any “negotiated outcome” under that arrangement. For Canberra, the status quo – that Bougainville remain part of PNG – is likely the preferred outcome, avoiding another small, aid-dependent nation emerging in the region.

If, however, the result is overwhelmingly in favour of independence, and if the negotiated outcome with the PNG government supports that result, then Australia has little choice but to accept it. Once the result is known, Australia may be better to anticipate it, meet the challenge head-on, and work with regional players to ensure as peaceful and successful a transition as possible.

Bougainville has significant natural resources. It has copper, gold, and silver reserves valued at more than $58 billion, rich fishing grounds, and a history of agricultural production, including large cocoa plantations. These resources – and good management of them – will be crucial if Bougainville is to become a viable independent nation. Its challenge now is to educate and mobilise a “lost generation” of younger people disenfranchised by the war, while forging a unified people and bringing integrity to its political system. It faces many challenges ahead, not least of which is finding consensus on mining issues.

However, the autonomous government is largely ready for the referendum, while the new government in PNG has suggested that it is more committed to the process than the previous government under Peter O’Neill.

Strong sentiments for independence on the ground, combined with the new geopolitics of the region, suggest there is little Bougainville’s neighbours, including Australia, can do to slow the momentum towards independence.

Australia’s challenge is to allow the peace process to unfold, signal its neutrality, and engage more with all parties to the process.

While Australia may have legitimate concerns about Bougainville’s prospects as a new nation in the region, these need to be balanced against the possibility of a crisis unfolding if a clear majority of Bougainvilleans vote yes, as expected, and their wishes are then stymied by events.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

By Gorothy Kenneth in Port Moresby

Papua New Guinean Prime Minister James Marape will visit Australia this weekend for a week-long state visit and the Bougainville independence referendum in less than three months is expected to be high on the agenda.

Marape will leave Port Moresby on Sunday and will start his visit with a meeting with his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison in Canberra.

He will be accompanied by several cabinet ministers and will also be the first foreign leader to visit Australia since the re-election of Morrison in May.

READ MORE: A new Pacific nation next door? – Stefan Armbruster at SBS

The two men will discuss a wide range of issues, but specifically focus their discussions on opportunities to boost trade and investment, ways to address shared regional challenges, and strengthen bilateral co-operation on labour mobility, defence and security.

It is understood the Bougainville referendum, for which writs would be issued next month, will be a draw card for discussions because Australia has been and is playing a major role in the referendum vote in October.

It has been reported widely by Australian media that Australia could soon have a new country as a neighbour when Bougainville goes to poll in October, an issue which is also close to Australia’s agenda.

“Discussions will focus on opportunities to boost trade and investment, ways to address shared regional challenges, and strengthening our bilateral co-operation on labour mobility, defence and security,” Morrison’s office said in a statement yesterday.

“Marape will be in Australia from July 21 to July 26.”

It is understood Marape will be in Canberra for his bilateral meeting with Morrison before his Royal Australian Air Force trip and visits to Perth, Sydney and Brisbane.

Gorethy Kenneth is a senior Post-Courier political journalist.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

By Chris Baria at PNG Mine Watch

The chairman of Bougainville Hardliners Group and former combatant-turned-businessman, James Onartoo, has called on the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) Police Minister to explain what the Australian Federal Police (AFP) were doing at the site of the controversial Panguna mine last Wednesday (June 5).

According to Onartoo, members of the communities around the mine site became suspicious when they saw the Australian police taking GPS readings at various points around the mine.

These points included the one where the mining company BCL had considered building an airstrip in the early part of the Bougainville crisis to fly in aircraft supposedly to evacuate expatriate mine workers and their families out of Panguna.

READ MORE: Fury in Bougainville over mining amendment go-ahead

“I think the public is owed an explanation as to what is happening. To the best of my knowledge the AFP were ousted in 2007 on suspicions of spying on the ABG and the people of Bougainville by the former President, late Joseph Kabui,” Onartoo said.

“Their presence at Panguna, which is the site of so much controversy and disagreements plus issues of sensitive nature stemming from proposed reopening by ABG, raises serious questions considering the fact that in the past Australia always supported military intervention by the PNG Defence Force to regain control of the mine.

“If AFP can raid the ABC office in Australia itself, then they are capable of anything, including maybe gathering intelligence on ground for the purpose of regaining control of Panguna and restarting the mine with use of force,” Onartoo said.

Onartoo said that it is a well known fact that Australia’s interest in the mineral deposits at Panguna never declined and Australian advisers to ABG have denounced agriculture, tourism, fisheries and other sustainable industries, claiming that only mining is able to finance Bougainville’s independence.

Several companies which are vying to reopen the Panguna mine, which was shutdown by landowners in 1990, are also of Australian origin.

The AFP party, which comprised three policemen and two civilians – including a doctor – were escorted on their visit to the autonomous region by the Bougainville Service Commander, Francis Tokura and police personnel.

They are also said to have visited the proposed border post sites at Koromira and Kangu Beach.

Onartoo said he had nothing to say about AFP visiting other parts of the Autonomous Region.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

FILM REVIEW: By David Robie

While a gripping film about the apocalyptic Bougainville war, or more accurately the peace that ended the decade-long conflict, opened in cinemas across New Zealand last week, an island roadshow has been taking place back in the Pacific.

Initiated by the United Nations, the roadshow – featuring Bougainville President Father John Momis, many of his cabinet members and UN Resident Coordinator Gianluca Rampolla – is designed to help prepare the Bougainvillean voters to decide on their future.

This future is due to be put to the test in a referendum on October 17 in the crucial political outcome of an extraordinary peace process that began in chilly mid-winter talks at Burnham Military Camp near Christchurch in July 1997.

The vote is already four months delayed, partly due to spoiling tactics of Peter O’Neill’s Papua New Guinean government which would avoid the vote if it could.

The Bougainville referendum roadshow … speaking to the women. Image: Bougainville News

In any case, the vote is not binding and the O’Neill government may not even honour it, even if there is an overwhelming vote for independence in the island with a population of 250,000.

The choice is simple: Voters will be asked to choose between greater autonomy and full independence. The vote is expected to favour independence.

Also at stake is the future of the Panguna – once the mainstay of Papua New Guinea’s economy and now abandoned because of the environmental devastation caused by the huge Australian-owned copper mine – and the right of a people to choose their own destiny free from rapacious foreign extraction industries.

After almost 10 years of civil war when an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 people lost their lives through the actual fighting between the Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA) and other armed groups and the Papua New Guinean military, and through deaths from lack of medical treatment and starvation as a result of a military blockade around the island state, a breakthrough was achieved in New Zealand.

Training a child to play shoot … a scene from both Hakas And Guitars and Soldiers Without Guns. Image: Freeze frame from Hakas And Guns trailer

Exhausted by the deadlock, the deprivations of the war and 14 failed attempts at negotiating a peace, talks in the bitter cold at Burnham sparked off the long journey for a lasting peace. As former North Solomons provincial government official and a peace process officer Robert Tapi recalls:

The silent majority of Bougainvilleans were tired of war and longed to return to normal village life. Women’s groups, church groups and chiefs increased the pressure on both the BRA and the PNG-backed Bougainville Transitional Government to negotiate for peace.

On all sides, the likely cost of victory was proving too high. The moderate revolutionary leaders realised that even if they did “win”, they “would inherit a hopelessly divided society”.

The first meeting resulted in the Burnham Declaration of July 18, 1997, which urged the leaders to call a ceasefire and for the establishment of an international peacekeeping force with the withdrawal of the PNG Defence Force.

Following the Burnham Truce and the endorsement of a Truce Monitoring Group (TMG) in Cairns in November 1997, a further Burnham meeting in January 1998 produced the Lincoln Agreement and paved the way for the Ceasefire Agreement in Arawa on April 30, 1998.

The success of the breakthrough in Burnham and the following meetings was thanks to the inclusion of women’s groups, churches and local chiefs as well as the political opponents, meeting on neutral territory and with New Zealand not intervening in the talks. Also helpful was then Foreign Minister Don McKinnon’s friendly and chatty style with the delegates, which boosted Bougainvillean morale.

“Land is our heartbeat” … women played a key role in the Bougainville peace – and the documentary. Image: Freeze frame from Soldiers Without Guns

Filmmaker Will Watson stepped up to tell the extraordinary New Zealand peacekeeping story initially through an award-winning 2018 documentary for Māori Television, Hakas And Guitars, following up with this year’s feature film Soldiers Without Guns.

He had been monitoring the war and aftermath while a journalism student and began to put together a project team in 2005. Ironically, due to funding and other obstacles, it took him 13 years to complete the feature film – longer than the actual war.

A couple of years later, in 2007, he had a film crew on the ground in Bougainville to carry out interviews and gain invaluable footage. His documentary is an inspiring and fitting tribute to the innovative “guitars, waiata and wahine” approach of the NZ-led peacekeeping force.

Soldiers Without Guns poster at the Civic premiere in Auckland earlier this month. Image: David Robie

By concentrating on a strategy of winning the hearts and minds through hundreds of kilometres of foot slogging treks to villages and communicating directly and honestly with ordinary people, the soldiers gained the trust of Bougainvilleans from all sides.

It was a courageous and insightful decision by the first mission commander, Brigadier Roger Mortlock, now retired, to go to Bougainville without weapons and guarantee the peace. He had experienced a UN peacekeeping failure in Angola and was determined this mission would succeed.

Bougainville … a long history of struggle against the Australian-owned Panguna mine and for independence. Image: Freeze frame from Soldiers Without Guns

Another key factor in the success was Major Fiona Cassidy, an Army public relations manager at the time, and her ability to communicate in a meaningful way with the Bougainvillean women in what is a matriarchal society.

In a recent RNZ Pacific interview, she admitted finding the challenge a bit “scary”:

“When you looked at the country brief, you knew that you were not going into a benign environment. It actually was hostile. So it was a little bit scary thinking, ‘Okay, we’re going to a country which has been at war for so long, it still isn’t stable, and we’re going in unarmed.’”

During the start of the Bougainville war, I was head of the journalism programme at the University of Papua New Guinea and reported the first year of the conflict in a cover story for Pacific Islands Monthly. As part of this, I revealed how a New Zealand environmental consultancy unwittingly became a catalyst for fuelling the conflict.

I wrote in my 2014 book Don’t Spoil My Beautiful Face: Media, Mayhem and Human Rights in the Pacific:

Apart from convoys with soldiers riding shotgun and yellow ochre Bougainville Copper Limited trucks packed with security forces sporting M16s, you would hardly guess that a guerrilla war was in progress near the Bougainville provincial capital of Arawa. But once you reached the sandbagged machinegun nest in Birempa village at the foot of the rugged mountain jungles of the Crown Prince Range, the tension started to rise.

Scanning the dense vegetation for a sign of the militants of the Bougainville Republican Army (BRA)—known as Rambos in the first year of the decade-long civil war – the Papua New Guinea Defence Force soldier manning the machinegun didn’t notice the irony of the T-shirt he was wearing.

“Mine Of Tears” … a t-shirt popular early in the Bougainville war. Image: David Robie

Scrawled across his chest were the words MINE OF TEARS, a word play on the title of Richard West’s 1972 book River of Tears: The rise of Rio Tinto-Zinc Mining Corporation. The book was an expose of the mining operations by BCL’s parent company CRA Limited of Australia—a subsidiary of Britain’s Conzinc-Riotinto—and it had already become the “Bible” of the many of the militants.

At the time I was reporting on the fledgling war for a cover story featured by Pacific Islands Monthly in its November 1989 edition entitled MINE OF TEARS: BOUGAINVILLE ONE YEAR LATER. No other journalists were on the ground at the time, and the only other people staying at the small hotel in the port town of Kieta were soldiers, some cradling guns on their knees when having dinner. The atmosphere was surreal and ghostly in those early days.

The problems of Bougainville cannot be divorced from the rest of the country, or even from the rest of the Pacific. At stake are the crucial issues of a conflict between Western concepts of land ownership and indigenous land values, the equity between the national government, provincial administration and the traditional landowners, and a choice between genuine sovereignty over resource development projects or dependence on foreign control.

For those of us who have had some involvement in the Bougainville war bearing witness, Will Watson and his crew deserve huge praise for bringing this story to the big screen, and honouring New Zealand’s contribution to peace – Australia couldn’t have done it – and providing hope for Bougainville’s future.

With luck, the island will become independent and bring some meaning to all that terrible loss of life and deprivation.

Professor David Robie is director of the Pacific Media Centre.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk

The Autonomous Bougainville Government, led by president Dr John Momis, has been accused by a research and advocacy group of allowing a “reckless land grab” with its planned mining law changes.

The proposed amendments to the 2015 Bougainville Mining Act, along with accompanying legislation, will give the ABG the power to hand over mining leases to all parts of the island not under existing leases to Bougainville Advanced Mining, a new entity created for this purpose.

The ABG would have 60 percent ownership of Bougainville Advanced Mining, while 40 percent would be owned by a foreign partner.

READ MORE: Bougainville’s mining deal meets widespread opposition

Statements made President Momis last week suggested that Caballus mining, a Perth-based company headed by Jeff McGlinn, would be the foreign partner involved, said Jubilee Australia.

“These are radical changes and appear to be nothing more than a reckless land grab,” Jubilee Australia’s executive director Dr Luke Fletcher said in a statement.

-Partners-

“First, this would hand over control of the majority of the island to the President and his foreign partner, Mr McGlinn.

“Second, the president would have the power to unilaterally distribute leases without any consultation or permission from landowners.

‘Cut out of process’
“As a result, landowners will be cut out of the process. These amendments undermine the principal of free, prior and informed consent,” said Dr Fletcher.

“Doing so is both anathema to Melanesian culture and vitally important in the Bougainville context.

“It is not clear to us that this legislation is even constitutional,” said Dr Fletcher.

“It is a startling and dangerous move. Given the disastrous history of the Panguna mine in Bougainville, which has caused irreparable environmental damage to the Jaba river and was the major cause of the Pacific region’s worst ever civil war, forcing through such enormous changes with very little consultation is a reckless and desperate ploy.”

President Momis told Radio New Zealand the move was justified to enable the Bougainville independence referendum taking place.

“The people of Bougainville are determined to have the referendum and they must find the money to fund the referendum,” the President reportedly.

“One way of doing it would be if we started our own company and generated the revenue to enable us to conduct the referendum. We cannot sit on our hands.

Dubious over plans
However, Dr Flectcher said: “As our recent study of the question demonstrates, we are highly dubious that mines like Panguna could ever raise enough revenue to satisfy both foreign investors and the people of Bougainville,’ said Dr Fletcher.

“It is certainly impossible that the mine will raise any revenue before the independence vote.

“It will take years for the building/repair of infrastructure, the completion of environmental studies and other importance processes that need to take place before the mine can generate revenue.”

The Panguna mine was one of the world’s biggest copper-gold mines until a 10-year civil war forced its closure in 1989.

The war cost up to 20,000 lives and displaced 10,000 people. The Panguna mine was a leading cause of the war and communities have not been offered redress for the damage.

Since 2009, there has been a push to re-open the mine, with proponents claiming that Bougainville needs the mine to be economically independent.

President Momis has been at the forefront of this fight, under the auspices of former operator Bougainville Copper Limited (BCL), claiming that it would be the best and quickest option to generate revenue.

In December 2017, however, the president announced a moratorium of mining at Panguna and revoked BCL’s mining licence, after a meeting of landowner meetings voted against such an extension.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

By Clifford Faiparik in Port Moresby

National Capital District Governor Powes Parkop is pushing for Bougainville and West Papua to gain independence from Papua New Guinea and Indonesia respectively.

Parkop said this in no uncertain terms during a West Papua forum in Port Moresby yesterday.

Northern Governor Gary Juffa, who was also present, expressed similar sentiments.

READ MORE: Campaign for West Papuan independence

“The government must give political independence to Bougainville,” Parkop said. “Likewise, the Indonesian government should also give political independence to the West Papua provinces.

“Both of these people have struggled bitterly for independence for a long time, resulting in widespread deaths. The governments of both countries should not deny these respective people’s rights.”

-Partners-

Parkop said Bougainvilleans would be given the opportunity to determine whether they wanted to remain as part of PNG, or go separate.

“We are not afraid and I’m not afraid,” he said. “If Bougainville chooses independence, they will not move the island of Bougainville to Europe or another place in the world.

‘Still be there’
“They will still be there. We are all inter-married now. There are family and tribal relationships been bonded already.

“We might have a better future because if you look at the history of PNG, because of Bougainville, we were political and economically shaped.”

Parkop said the same message must be told to Indonesia.

“Indonesia must know that if West Papua becomes independent, they will not move the land to the United States,” he said.

“They will still stay there. The people speak Bahasa. Intermarriages have already been forged and established with people from other parts of Indonesia.

“Economically, they can be integrated. Socially, they can still move around in Indonesia. I don’t think the West Papua freedom movement will remove Indonesian investments.

The Indonesians must overcome their fear.”

Clifford Faiparik is a journalist with The National daily newspaper.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

By RNZ Pacific

The Bougainville President, John Momis, says he has been assured by Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister, Peter O’Neill, that the absence of a vital grant from the 2019 Budget was an “administrative error”.

Both leaders met last week in Port Moresby

PNG’s budget, announced last week, makes no mention of the Restoration and Development Grant which is constitutionally guaranteed under the Bougainville Peace Agreement.

READ MORE: PNG budget reports lack transparency, says economist

Momis said Bougainville relied on this grant for essential projects and a failure by the national government to pay it would reflect badly on both Port Moresby and Bougainville.

The budget did feature a cut to recurrent funding for the Autonomous Bougainville Government.

-Partners-

Next year, 2019, will be a critical year with a referendum on Bougainville’s long term political future scheduled to take place in June, Momis said.

The PNG and Bougainville governments must ensure that together they provide the funding and support needed to allow the vote to take place and for the important work of peace building to continue, he said.

O’Neill has promised to rectify the issues.

This article is republished under the Pacific Media Centre’s content partnership with Radio New Zealand.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk

The people of Bougainville should present a unified front at the dawn of the referendum to secure a viable option of self-determination, says Autonomous Bougainville Government President Dr John Momis.

If Bougainville can secure more than 90 percent of the popular vote next year, it would have the bargaining power to negotiate with the Port Moresby national government, he added, reports The National.

“After the referendum vote, we will still have to negotiate with the national government before the referendum result is ratified by parliament,” Dr Momis said.

“Securing a majority vote on one option of the referendum question secures support from the international community and it proves to the national government that this is what our people have chosen as the new path for our future.

“Apart from presenting a unified front, it is imperative that we implement the Bougainville Peace Agreement.

“It does not matter if the government is failing to honour the peace agreement, we must continue to strive to implement it so that when it comes to the ratification of the outcome of the referendum, we can proudly say that we implemented it in its entirety.”

-Partners-

Dr Momis said it was the moral and legal obligation of the Bougainville government to honour the peace agreement despite capacity constraints which had hampered the full implementation of the autonomous arrangements on Bougainville.

He urged factions who have been causing problems for the government to end their dissension.

“We must realise that we stand on the threshold of a definitive period in our history yet we continue to be diametrically opposed to the government and the rule of law,” Dr Momis added.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

By Patrick Makis

The people of Bougainville will only accept independence from Papua New Guinea and nothing else, says concerned Bougainvillean and independence hardliner Gabriel Moses.

And no amount of greater powers or autonomy will appease the people – especially after the loss of over 15,000 lives during the 10-year Bougainville War.

Moses was speaking in reaction to comments made by Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister, Peter O’Neill, this week, who reportedly said that the PNG Constitution did not permit the granting of independence to any province or region in the country.

“It is hard to compensate the 15,000 to 20,000 lives that were lost during the conflict even with K20 million or 100 pigs or even greater autonomy, free and just association or whatever.

“The only answer is to grant independence or sovereignty to the people of Bougainville after the referendum is conducted.

“The fact is that Bougainville already won independence through the blood that was shed during the crisis and referendum is just a process that will formalise the wishes of the people who I believe will overwhelmingly vote for independence from PNG.

-Partners-

“The three or four questions that are being suggested to be answered during the referendum are just to confuse the people especially those who are not educated enough to understand and interpret the questions,” Moses said referring to the questions yet to be decided by the Joint Supervisory Body for the referendum due next June 15.

Unlocking resources
He said Bougainville was ready for independence because of its vast natural resources and minerals and only independence would allow the people to unlock these resources for development under their own government and country.

“There is no economic value for Bougainville to remain under Papua New Guinea as PNG is a sinking ship and has nothing to offer Bougainville even though the Panguna mine, at one time, contributed largely to the development of the country through the national budget.

“PNG has continued to fail us in terms of providing sufficient funds to operate systems like the provincial government which it gave to us to prevent secession in the 1970s and now the autonomous government.

“What guarantee do we have that by continuing to remain as an autonomous region we will address our developmental needs as currently the ABG is cash-strapped and continues to be starved off funds legally owed to it under the peace agreement,” Moses said.

He called on all Bougainvilleans to vote for independence from PNG and prove to the world that there was overwhelming support for self-determination and independence.

“The people of Bougainville or Buka are ethnically and culturally connected to Solomon Islanders but were separated from their relatives by the British and German colonisers and included under PNG in the 1800s,” Moses said.

“So the fight for self determination dates back to the 19th century and PNG should realise by now that Bougainvilleans will stop at nothing to continue to push for their independence.”

Patrick Makis is a Papua New Guinean journalist who has worked with the PNG Department of Defence.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz