Bougainville demands independence
Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Pias Wingti announced on August 16 that peace would come to Bougainville only with the unconditional surrender of the Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA). On the same day, PNG troops launched an offensive to capture the Panguna copper mine. The ABC's PNG correspondent, Sean Dorney, said on Radio National that the "mine was not defendable" and that the BRA "had lost a lot of support in recent years". Green Left Weekly's JON LAND asked JASON CORNELIUS, an independent journalist who visited Bougainville for three weeks in May, about the BRA and the effects Australia's military and political support for PNG's war on Bougainville is having on its people.
Cornelius and journalist Francis O'Neil entered Bougainville from the south and travelled up to Panguna in the island's centre. They visited the mine owned by Bougainville Copper Limited, in which the Australian-based mining company CRA has a controlling share.
"There are bright blue copper sulfate rivers running down into the mine. The Jaba River [which carried the mine tailings to the sea] is still biologically dead. There is no real vegetation growing anywhere near the mine. The mine itself is an absolute nightmare; it looks like something out of Beirut, with burnt-out houses, trucks. There are massive environmental problems all around."
Bougainville Copper Limited met in Port Moresby recently to discuss the prospects of reopening the mine, which has been closed since 1989. CRA estimates that it will cost some $650 million to bring the mine back on line; in its last year of production, the mine netted $71.6 million for CRA. With 15 years' supply of ore left, it is a billion dollar plus asset CRA is keen to have operational.
However, CRA is cautious about the mine's future prospects. Apart from the costs involved, it has to contend with another huge obstacle — the Bougainvillean people's determination to gain independence and control over their resources.
"This is a classical guerilla war with one reasonably well-armed aggressive invader attempting to put down a popular uprising, which has used the very rough terrain and strong subsistence lifestyle to its advantage.
"After six years of war on Bougainville, the average PNG soldier is really sick of it. They don't like going out on patrol; they don't do it very often. They mostly spend their time in the bunkers, randomly firing mortars and machine guns to keep the BRA away. When they do go on patrol, they often have losses, including equipment to the BRA, which they're very worried about.
"Recently the BRA attacked Arawa [in central Bougainville], and there was considerable fighting. This was the first large-scale incursion the BRA had mounted for some time. It was in retaliation for PNG Defence Force [PNGDF] atrocities committed against Bougainvillean civilians, including desecrating the dead, a cultural taboo.
"Australian pilots still fly the helicopters that are involved in strafing villages and dumping bodies at sea. Since early August, Australian troops — two groups of engineers, armed and in uniform — have been in the war zone in Arawa."
PNG air and naval personnel went on strike in late July in PNG over poor conditions, stranding more than 1000 troops in Bougainville without supply lines and air or sea cover. On July 27, Wingti, in an attempt to defuse tension and possible mutiny among the demoralised PNGDF troops, made his first visit to the island since the war broke out.
According to Cornelius, the BRA's morale, by contrast, is high. "Between us we estimated that 70% to 80% of the population are behind the BRA. The rest, for one reason or another, support PNG or are indifferent.
"While originally the BRA may have comprised a fair number of 'rascals', in six years it has changed a lot. It is now quite a disciplined and structured force. The BRA are fighting on their home ground and have maintained contact with their families and their culture. You don't get the same kind of excessive atrocities that the PNGDF carry out.
"We met with leaders of the BRA, including Sam Kauona. He is a very relaxed and genuine person. He views the war on Bougainville as a 'subsistence war' and explained that the PNGDF's strategy has been to take the coast and starve them out — to wait till the Bougainvilleans run out of weapons, food and medicines and then hope they'll give up. But after six years, this hasn't worked — and it won't.
"Having gone this far, the BRA is not going to give up and settle for anything less than independence.
"The BRA are in a tough situation, but they're very determined, resilient and righteous about their cause. They are nearly all practising Christians and the key leaders see themselves as a 'spark of light' and as environmental heroes in a world gone mad with industrial gluttony."
The PNGDF continue to hold the island of Buka, to the north of Bougainville, and a considerable section of the northern part of Bougainville itself. They have very few strongholds in the south, while they control most coastal areas. PNGDF presence in central Bougainville is virtually non-existent.
According to Cornelius, the PNGDF controls very little of Bougainville. "What they have is a series of bunkers along the coast. These bunkers have to be reinforced and resupplied by air or sea; they can't be resupplied overland. They don't really hold the surrounding areas, which are controlled by the BRA. The BRA controls the majority of the island."
The military-enforced blockade of Bougainville, in effect since 1990, has been PNG's main strategy to break the independence movement. The island's infrastructure has been decimated, resulting in inadequate health care, education, housing and other social services. Villages have been destroyed by strafing and bombing, and many communities have been forcibly relocated to "care centres" in other parts of Bougainville.
"The care centres are used to suppress the Bougainvillean civilian population and stop them aiding the BRA. They are an attempt to stop the popular support for the BRA. The PNGDF move into an area, take the people at gun point from where they have been living to somewhere where they can be easily contained. They are kept under guard. They have to regrow their gardens; they are sometimes allowed a couple of days a week to return to their old gardens, as the new gardens can't supply all their needs. If they are lucky, they also receive a ration of rice and sometimes clothing.
"The civilian population has been very badly affected by the blockade. There is a high level of protein deficiency because Bougainvilleans traditionally rely on a diet which included fish. Since the war, they have been unable to do any fishing or very little.
"Childbirth is probably the most serious problem they have. Without access to doctors and medical facilities, there is a high level of infant mortality. Two years ago, a Red Cross report estimated that 2000 children under the age of five had died. Since then, the figure has probably gone up to twice that.
"There are children who, for the last six years, have had no education. It's only now that the BRA have got to a point were they can begin to start developing the island's infrastructure. I saw a hospital under construction and visited a school were they were conducting a class.
It's almost impossible, though, with the small amounts of humanitarian aid that manages to make it through the blockade. Running the blockade is costly and dangerous; boats are sunk quite regularly.
"There is no real level of clothing assistance, and this is a real problem on Bougainville — in the non-PNG controlled areas as well. Most are church-going people and they feel very conscious about going to church with few or no clothes on at all.
Human rights and solidarity groups such as the Bougainville Freedom Movement (BFM) and Amnesty International have been campaigning and lobbying the Australian government. The BFM, in particular, has been highlighting the Australian government's destructive role in providing military aid and support to the PNGDF.
In mid-April, an Australian parliamentary delegation, led by Senator Stephen Loosley, went to Bougainville to assess the situation. Their visit, an attempt to defuse growing criticism of Australia's support for PNG, came just prior to crucial negotiations between PNG and representatives of the Bougainville Interim Government.
"A good percentage of the population have radios that pick up Radio Australia from Port Moresby and so are aware of the Australian peoples' support for their independence struggle", Cornelius told Green Left Weekly.
"A lot of people were very cynical when they heard about the Australian parliamentary delegation's visit. When the delegation didn't visit any of the BRA areas [despite invitations to do so], this cynicism was confirmed.
"The report of the visit was very much a propaganda exercise. You can't go to a country and expect to make any type of assessment of the situation where you only visit one side and spend only 17 hours there. I don't think there is any real excuse for not visiting other areas — nor did they have any intention of doing so. They don't want the Australian public to know what is really going on."
The Loosley report was released on June 8, in the midst of important peace talks in Honiara, the first negotiations since the failed attempts in 1991. The report was supported by the PNG government (Loosley made a special visit to Port Moresby to present an advance copy to Wingti and deputy PM Sir Julius Chan).
Australian foreign affairs minister Gareth Evans hailed the report for "its sensitivity to PNG's sovereign independence". Evans also stated that "however much we might want to help, the fact is that no amount of shouting from the sidelines can enforce peace on Bougainville". In saying this, he signalled to PNG that the Australian government would remain silent when the negotiations were ditched.
"The talks in Honiara went nowhere. The Bougainvilleans want the war over; they want to go back to a normal life as quickly as possible. For them, the bottom line has always been independence. They are willing to talk about a negotiated peace.
"But then Wingti and Chan changed the agenda midway and refused to carry on the talks with the mandated representatives of the Bougainvillean people. It's really a stalling process by PNG, as they are under pressure from the UN to be seen to have done something to resolve the conflict before the next sitting of the UN Human Rights Commission in September."
Australian arms, helicopters, patrol boats and logistical support are crucial to the PNG war effort. They are used primarily to terrorise the civilian population. While the Loosley report found that there "can be no military solution to the conflict on Bougainville", the federal government has decided to increase its military aid to the PNGDF.
"The war on Bougainville could not last a day if it wasn't for Australian involvement. Senator Loosley comes out with all these 'great' resolutions on how he's going to bring peace to Bougainville. Yet, at the same time, Australian aid to PNG is increased to $54 million to continue the killing on Bougainville!
"The Australian parliament accepts this, despite the fact that this is a war where there can be no military solution, where there are continual abuses of human rights and where, under United Nations law, there is an illegal blockade preventing humanitarian aid getting through to the island. This blockade is being enforced by Australian patrol boats.
"It was an interesting experience to be attacked by mortars and watching them land within 200 metres of where we were camped, and be shown an unexploded mortar which has been traced to a St Mary's armaments factory in Sydney, about 10 to 15 kilometres from where I live", Cornelius said.
"The PNGDF knew we where there and I'm sure they did this with the mandate of the Australian government. To be attacked by an army, aided and abetted by your own country, is an ironic twist."