Louis Taneavi avoided death in Bougainville war but killed in Lae

Leonard Fong Roka

The slain Louis Taneavi left Tumpusiong after he heard schools in Buin were up and running in the PNG army controlled areas of Buin Town. But like another place then, his former rebel mates, the Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA) was a force the PNG army and its supporters, the Bougainville Resistance Forces (BRF) was not capable to shield off from.

 

While Louis Taneavi was a student at Buin High School and dwelling with his cousin sister at Ipirai, a one of the few care centers operated by the PNG army, the BRA infiltrated and attacked at will. To take a break from the constant BRA raids, the PNG army leaders so often made mini-peace deals with the notorious BRA commander, late Paul Bobby Kiaku.

During these peace deals, the BRA freely came into the care centers and the care center people like Louis Taneavi also moved around to visit friends in other care centers in the PNG areas or in the BRA controlled areas.

It was in one of these peace deals that Louis Taneavi got his second lucky escape from death. His first escape from death was in Torokina whilst serving as a BRA soldier against a PNG army patrol in 1993 where he and his mates walked into a PNG army ambush.

But in Buin while Louis Taneavi was a student in 1995, a PNG soldier named as Phil Dengde made a peace deal with the BRA man, Paul Bobby Kiaku in early 1995. His peace lasted for few days and also many other peace deals had own durations neither for weeks or just hours.

In these fragile peace deals the BRA, the BRF and PNGDF chatted and when the time was out, guns went off and the game of killing began. And from Ipirai care center, in what is now the Buin town, was where Louis Taneavi was watching all these development in Buin.

In one of these truce days, a Sunday, Louis Taneavi went to visit a Panguna man, Clement Taruoi, who was a businessman and health extension officer and dwelled in Tangtareke care center in what is now the Buin Town.

As he was passing a BRA gang with Paul Bobby was boozing at Mamaro care center, a pro-PNG camp, without realizing that the mini-peace had ended.

The PNGDF took the opportunity to attack the most feared BRA man, Paul Bobby Kiaku. In an ambulance PNGDF reversed into the Mamaro care center spot towards Bobby and the band of his men. The BRA thought the PNGDF ambulance was approaching them to fetch a sick somewhere so they kept calm.

But from inside the reversing vehicle the PNGDF open fire at the boozing BRA band and shot one BRA soldier death but their number target Paul Bobby left down into the nearby Loruru River gorge and left unhurt.  

Paul Bobby was ruthless in battle and the resistance knew he was returning for payback and as anticipated in the afternoon the Laguai-based BRA units returned into the Buin Town area that house a number of care centers in close proximities.

Without realizing that the BRA was back in their midst but still waiting for the exposure of their targets, the Panguna men Clement Taruoi and Louis Taneavi decided to take a walk to the edges of Tangtareke where Clement would watch Louis go for Ipirai.

But as they gained distance, they were told a BRA man has being killed at Mamaro so Clement told him to go and see the situation and if the situation was tense and there was no one around he had to return back to his residence.

Louis went and saw no one but only met a young girl, Merolyn Tukiau, who was his girl friend from Ipirai and she told him that nobody was home so you come with me. Louis rejected the invitation and started to return back Tangtareke.  

And as Louis approached the junction into Tangtareke, the BRA began to attack the main center, the Buin Independence Oval area that hosted the PNGDF base.

Louis Taneavi was caught in between the long ambush of BRA men that suddenly appeared around from hiding firing guns at the Mamaro camp and then they suddenly withdrew after Paul Bobby fired a M203 grenade into the PNGDF direction sending the PNGDF fleeing before his eyes.

On the run a dreadlocked BRA man started questioning him as he stood hopelessly in their midst. ‘Do doi oraigu?’ (Where are you from?).

Louis answered him: ‘Kietarai’ (From Kieta).

The BRA then asked: ‘Eke oke tungtumoru?’ (where do you live?).

Louis told him: ‘Ipirai’.

Then in fury the BRA man, then placing a sharp knife on his neck said: ‘Do tou resistance denden? Do dopa engtano o dekipoino’ (You must be a Resistance? If you are a resistance I will kill you now).

Louis then told him: ‘Tou, ne touno resistance! Ne school erumo igoke nunu ngoma mango nonoi.’ (I am not a resistant but I reside with my sister there and attend school).

With relieve the BRA man said: ‘Okay. Do dengo toio omorogim. Deke Kieta toi bio torokim (Okay. Come with us and we will bring you to Kieta; we travel regularly through the jungles to Kieta).

But after running a few distances under the PNGDF mortar and gun fire the BRA man changed his mind and told Louis: ‘A tou! Do buaga-are touno tokasi. Ne ninu buaga-are promise etasi. Do mururara (Oh, no. You are not promised for death. I am promised to death so you go back).

So the BRA left Louis Taneavi to return back to the care center as they moved on.

Those bullets of the Bougainville war did not take you down brother. May your soul rest in peace. Louis Taneavi was killed on 7 April 2014 in Lae,  PNG, by Sepiks who were fighting with Morobeans  while a student attending Multi Skills Training College. Was flown home to Bougainville by relatives Camillus Kabui and Francis Nazia on 19 April 2014 to Panguna.