Papua New Guinea upbeat for peace on Bougainville

Papua New Guinea upbeat for peace on Bougainville

By David Williams

PORT MORESBY (AFP): The government of Papua New Guinea has
embarked on a fragile peace process that could provide the
brightest hope yet for ending a bloody six-year secessionist
conflict on Bougainville Island.

The conflict has killed more than 150 members of the Papua New
Guinea Defense Force (PNGDF) and unknown numbers of rebels in the
Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA).

Thousands of the island's 300,000 civilians are said to have
died from disease as a government-imposed blockade, due to be
lifted in October, prevented medicines from reaching the small
copper-rich island off the country's north-east coast.

Many more are homeless and sheltering in government care
centers scattered around Bougainville.

Peace would end the killing and lead to the reopening of the
country's valuable Panguna copper mine, owned by Bougainville
Copper Limited (BCL) of which the majority shareholder is
Australian mining giant CRA.

Before its closure in 1989 amid escalating violence, the mine
was Papua New Guinea's biggest single revenue earner, providing
40 percent of total export revenue and close to 20 percent of
internal income for the government.

Two earlier attempts at ending the conflict in 1991, the
Endeavor Accord and the Honiara Declaration were signed but not
honored by either party. Both sides are now regarded as being
more determined.

Prime minister Sir Julius Chan, elected on Aug. 30, has met
personally with rebel chief Sam Kauona in the Solomon Islands
capital Honiara where they signed a cease-fire.

They have also agreed for a Pacific peacekeeping force --
comprising troops from Tonga, Fiji and Vanuatu -- to enter
Bougainville on Oct. 3 to supervise disarmament and a peace
conference scheduled for Oct. 10.

Government sources here say the process seems promising.
"The guns of war are slowly being silenced," Chan has said of the
process, adding both sides had made mistakes but recognizing the
BRA was seriously seeking to stop the violence and talk "as
rational men."

"From now on we will be talking as friends," he said.

Chan said he would not tolerate any sabotage of the peace
process, adding that the track record on previous attempts to
find peace "has not been good, in many cases it has been woeful.

"No element in Papua New Guinea will be permitted to act
destructively against our decision," he said. "At this stage, the
peace process is fragile. One wrong step will bring us right back
into hell."

The Bougainville Island crisis was triggered by local
grievances concerning revenues from the Panguna copper mine.

Local activists called for three percent of BCL's revenue to
be paid to the province and later demanded US$ 10 billion
compensation, half the profits from the mine since it began and
tighter environmental controls.

In May 1989, BCL closed the mine because of continued attacks
and sabotage.

Chan has declined to speculate on the future of Bougainville.
"It is very much a matter of taking one step after another,
without undue haste," he has said.

"Of course, I know that there is already talk of major
issues ... will Bougainville be an integral part of Papua New
Guinea, an independent state standing on its own, something
vaguely in between? At this stage I am not prepared to say
anything more on that."