Wednesday, February 7, 2001 - 11:00
BY NORM DIXON
Talks between the Papua New Guinea government and Bougainville leaders on January 26 have finally resulted in an agreement to hold a referendum in which the people of Bougainville will be given the option to choose independence — but not before 2011.
Sam Kauona & family (nzine.nz)
Talks had been stalled for several months because of the PNG government's prevarication at allowing the independence option. However, while the deal has been hailed as a "breakthrough" and "a milestone" by PNG leaders and Australian foreign minister Alexander Downer, the Bougainville Interim Government (BIG) and Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA) have questioned the deal.
The agreement was signed in Kokopo, East New Britain, by the PNG government's Bougainville affairs minister Moi Avei, PNG-appointed Bougainville provincial premier John Momis, Bougainville Peoples Congress president Joseph Kabui, head of the Leitana council of chiefs Joel Banam, United Nations observer Noel Sinclair and Peace Monitoring Group representative and former Australian deputy high commissioner to PNG Stephen Henningham. The BIG and BRA abandoned their participation in the talks last November in protest at the PNG government's refusal to agree to a referendum with an independence option.
Under the terms of the referendum deal, the people of Bougainville will have the opportunity to vote for independence no earlier than 10 years, and no later than 15 years, following the election of an autonomous Bougainville government. The agreement states that the election for an autonomous Bougainville government cannot proceed until the BRA agrees to "arms disposal" (disarmament).
Momis told the January 30 Port Moresby National newspaper that the election of an autonomous Bougainville government could take place before the end of 2001 but was dependent on Bougainville's "hard-liners" — meaning the BIG/BRA and the other main pro-independence group led by Francis Ona, the original leader of the Bougainville uprising — agreeing to disarm.
Momis agreed that it would be difficult to convince the "hard-liners" to "surrender their arms" and "both the national and provincial governments should embark on strategies to persuade [them]... That means involving them in socioeconomic development... That is why it is important to get money-making ventures going, to replace guns with axes [and] bush knives, to get the people to start work again on their copra."
Avei stated that the agreement has the full support of PNG cabinet. The PNG parliament must also pass, with the support of two-thirds of MPs, an amendment to the PNG constitution to allow a referendum that includes the option of independence. The next round of negotiations, scheduled for February 13, will focus on what powers an autonomous Bougainville government will exercise.
In a statement issued on January 28, BIG/BRA spokesperson Sam Kauona said that, while the agreement should be "cautiously welcomed", the conditions for the referendum were "unfair".
"A vote on independence in a referendum should not be made conditional on BRA weapons disposal only", Kauona said. "The Lincoln Agreement [signed in New Zealand in January 1998], of which I was a signatory to ... clearly emphasises the 'withdrawal of the [PNG] Defence Force' in a 'phased withdrawal', subject to the restoration of civil authority."
"Why wasn't this provision also included with disarmament of the Bougainville Revolutionary Army?" Kauona asked. "All forces, PNGDF, BRA and [the pro-PNG] Resistance, must be all subject to the same provisions of demobilisation, as according to the Lincoln Agreement."
Kauona accused Kabui and Banam of having "given too much away to a dishonest government". He said he doubted that Port Moresby was capable of honouring agreements. "The survival of the PNG/Bougainville peace process depends very much on honesty, fairness and transparency... If we have not learned from our past mistakes then this struggle could go on for another 40 years", Kauona said.
Retrieved from this link: http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/23418
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