By Norm Dixon
Bougainville's struggle for independence will continue despite the occupation of parts of the embattled island's capital, Arawa, by Papua New Guinea Defence Force troops last week, the Bougainville Revolutionary Army has promised. The fledgling Republic of Bougainville is now fighting for survival against a PNG army supported, funded and armed by the Australian government.
While the Australian government has sent hundreds of troops on a supposed humanitarian mission to relieve starvation in Somalia and has condemned the vicious blockade of Sarajevo, for over three years it has callously aided and abetted the economic blockade of Bougainville. According to estimates of the Arawa Red Cross, the blockade has caused the deaths of 2000 children through lack of medicine.
On February 14, at least 60 PNG troops, with air support provided by an Australian-supplied Iroquois combat helicopter, moved out of the Tunuru Catholic Mission, the camp just three kilometres outside Arawa where they have been dug in since last October. The troops occupied two of Arawa's largest buildings, the former provincial administration centre known as the White House and the supermarket. The large supermarket car park is being used as a landing pad for helicopters bringing in reinforcements and provisions.
The Bougainville Interim Government's Honiara spokesperson, Martin Miriori, said that the occupation force met fierce resistance, which may have taken the lives of up to nine PNG soldiers. BRA fighters confirmed the loss one of their own in the battle.
Speaking by phone from his Honiara office on February 19, Miriori told Green Left Weekly that little has changed since the PNG troops entry into Arawa on February 14. "It is not a much different scenario [than in 1988-90 period] ... The BRA may be forced into the mountains, and that was the situation we confronted three years ago. At that time, of course, the BRA put up a good fight from the bush. That fight forced the Defence Force to leave the island in March 1990."
In a statement issued on February 16, the BRA's top command said: "History is quite likely to repeat itself ... One thing is certain: we will eventually win again. We are fighting to protect our land, and our God-given birth rights ... PNG is fighting against people for their own greed, money and power. They want to steal from our people and that is why they will never win the war. Justice must prevail in the end."
Miriori disputed PNG's claims that troops have fully secured the town. "They are only occupying the two buildings in Arawa, the supermarket and the White House. They are confined to those buildings, and the only means of supply for them at the moment is by the Australian-supplied helicopter.
"The road link from Tunuru to Arawa is totally cut off by BRA forces. [On February 17] the helicopter tried to make landings to drop food supplies and probably water, but they were unsuccessful although yesterday [February 18], late in the afternoon, there were some successful landings.
"There are vehicles belonging to BRA running around certain parts of Arawa township so it's not as bad as people might think outside Bougainville."
PNG mortar shells and grenades set fire to the Arawa General Hospital early on the morning of February 15. Most of the staff and patients at the hospital were rounded up by the PNG soldiers and taken to the Tunuru mission. It is believed they are being held as hostages despite PNG government claims to the contrary.
The PNG move into Arawa has again raised fears for the safety of Australian human rights lawyer Rosemarie Gillespie, who is in the Arawa area. Gillespie has angered the PNG government by her ability to inform the outside world of developments on the blockaded island.
PNG's state-run National Broadcasting Corporation has blamed Gillespie for the burning of the Arawa hospital. It said Gillespie had ordered the BRA to block the roads leading to Arawa in anticipation of the attack by PNG. When the roadblocks failed, the NBC said, Gillespie ordered the BRA to burn down the hospital.
PNG's high commissioner to the Solomon Islands, Frank Miro, has said Gillespie and an expatriate New Zealander, Richard Hardy, are "on the run with the BRA rebels". These bizarre accusations follow earlier NBC claims that Gillespie was the "political commander of the BRA" and organised shipments of arms and ammunition from the Solomon Islands.
Representatives of the Bougainville Interim Government, Moses Havini and Mike Forster, have been attending the 49th session of the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva. On February 9, Forster alerted the commission to the Australian government's role in providing arms, funds and training to the PNG troops which now occupy parts of Bougainville.
He told the commission that "[Bougainville] must be opened up and the blockade lifted to allow independent fact finding into the truth of the dimension of human rights violations, an end to hostilities and a peaceful resolution.
"As a taxpaying Australian, I object to the funding by the Australian government of the genocide which is taking place on Bougainville."
Forster attacked "Australia's gunboat diplomacy", which sought to take control of "the resources of the region at the expense of the lives and freedoms of the Bougainville people". He called on the Australian government to assist in finding a peaceful solution and to "stop fuelling the fire that burns our island". Speaking to the UNHRC on February 17, Moses Havini condemned the policies of the PNG government towards Bougainville in this, the International Year of the Indigenous Peoples of the world. "Papua New Guineans know in their hearts that they have no traditional or cultural claims over Bougainville. They are supporting a colonial division which has no real meaning for indigenous people. PNG, as an indigenous state, by denying others the right to self-determination, is keeping the foot against the door for all indigenous peoples less fortunate than themselves.
"All indigenous people around the world should communicate their displeasure to PNG for denying Bougainville self-determination and for seeking to destroy with armed force a culture and people."
PNG has refused to participate in the session. Miriori told Green Left Weekly that one can only assume this absence is because they recognise they are a "guilty party and don't want to be embarrassed at such an international forum".
Miriori was also highly critical of the role of the Australian government: "The present Australian Labor government has had a big hand in the Bougainville issue. It is the Australian training of the PNGDF, it is the Australian money, it is the Australian hardware — the Iroquois helicopters, the patrol boats — that is being used to fight the war in Bougainville. It is an Australian war being fought using PNG. Australia is giving the guns and PNG is only pulling the trigger to kill the people of Bougainville ... All this assistance Australia has given has led to gross human rights violations against the people of Bougainville."
Miriori said he hoped that, "whatever the government that comes into office after the election, this situation can be changed." He urged the Australian people to make Australia's involvement in Bougainville an election issue.