Australia-PNG rift over mercenary plan widens

Australia-PNG rift over mercenary plan widens

SYDNEY (Agencies): Papua New Guinea (PNG) Prime Minister Sir Julius Chan yesterday brushed aside Australia's offer of more military aid and insisted foreign mercenaries would serve in troubled Bougainville province.

The rebuff drew instant condemnation within the Australian parliament and a call for the suspension of all aid to PNG until the mostly African mercenaries are sent home and the A$30 million (US$23.4 million) contract with Sandline International is canceled.

At secret weekend talks Australian Prime Minister John Howard offered to train PNG troops for action against the rebel Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA) if foreign mercenaries were kept off the island.

The emergency meeting in Sydney was arranged to avert a serious rift between PNG and its former colonial master over hiring foreign mercenaries to end the bloody nine-year struggle with the BRA.

Laurie Brereton, spokesman on foreign affairs from the opposition Labor Party, took aim at Chan, who in July will seek a new mandate from PNG voters.

"Driven by his own domestic political agenda, the PNG prime minister has now thumbed his nose not only at the Howard government but also at Australian taxpayers who through our A$320 million (US$252.8 million) annual aid to PNG will directly pay the wages of these freelance killers," Brereton said.

Australia is the biggest aid donor to PNG and since independence in 1975 has run a substantial military assistance program.

Brereton also called for an urgent meeting of the South Pacific Forum to condemn the first-ever deployment of mercenaries in the region and for Australia to lead action against PNG at the United Nations.

He called on aid to be suspended until Chan relents.

"The Howard government must now deliver this message through concrete measures which leave Sir Julius Chan in absolutely no doubt of what is at risk as a consequence of the introduction of hired assassins into our region," Brereton said.

At least 40 mercenaries have arrived in PNG and begun training with high-technology communications equipment and night-fighting gear.

Australia until now has refused to train PNG troops in counter-insurgency techniques and banned Australian military hardware from being used in attacks on the BRA.

Chan has said Australia's refusal motivated him to sign the increasingly controversial deal with London-based Sandline.

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said yesterday a negotiated resolution to the Bougainville conflict was still possible.

"I believe it is possible, with patience and hard work, to achieve a political and peaceful solution to the problem in Bougainville," Downer said.