09.02.2014Source: ABC Radio Australia News A PNG lesson in going...

09.02.2014

Source: ABC Radio Australia News



A PNG lesson in going with the flow

by Liam Cochrane



The ABC's new correspondent in PNG got a taste of the vibrant colour and - at times - chaos of life on the road in the Land of the Unexpected. Liam Cochrane followed the PNG prime minister on an historic trip to Bougainville, an autonomous island to the east of Papua New Guinea that has been plagued by war and neglect. From baking heat to pouring rain, from being right in the thick of it to being completely left out, it was quite an initiation.



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http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-02-08/a-png-lesson-in-going-with-the-flow/5247882





ELIZABETH JACKSON: The ABC's new correspondent in PNG (Papua New Guinea) got a taste of the vibrant colour and, at times, chaos of life on the road in the Land of the Unexpected.



Liam Cochrane followed the PNG prime minister on a historic trip to Bougainville, an autonomous island to the east of Papua New Guinea that has been plagued by war and neglect.



From baking heat to pouring rain, from being right in the thick of it to being completely left out, it was quite an initiation.



From PNG, here's Liam Cochrane.



LIAM COCHRANE: I've spent some hot days under the Cambodian sun, but standing around filming the reconciliation ceremony at Buka, in northern Bougainville, was just about as sweltering as I've ever experienced.



Sure it was hot, but the humidity was intense. A few steps away a Papua New Guinean cameraman was feeling it too, beads of sweat dripping down his face, his shirt plastered to his back. Meanwhile the local Bougainvillian reporters, with their deep black skin, didn't to seem to notice the heat at all.



Someone handed me a bottle of water and probably saved me from heat stroke, as the speeches and ceremonies went on for about four hours.



I was one of 10 reporters and cameramen from the PNG mainland who had flown over to Bougainville to witness an historic visit by prime minister Peter O'Neill.



He was the first sitting PM to tour the autonomous island since the end of the civil war in 1997, and this trip was part of a long overdue reconciliation effort.



The logistics of such a trip were daunting but the basic idea was that once on Bougainville, the prime minister and other VIPs would take helicopters from place to place and the media would scramble across the island in two four wheel drives.



In Buka, the two leaders - Peter O'Neill representing PNG and John Momis, the president of Bougainville - broke a bow and arrow over their knees to symbolize the end of hostilities. Special peacemaker chiefs known as maimais stripped down to red sarongs and made loud proclamations of reconciliation, overseeing exchanges of gifts like traditional shell money, real cash, pigs and vegetables.



Bamboo bands played - slapping thongs on the end of bamboo pipes - while women in grass skirts danced. It was all very colourful. And so was I by the end of the day, a not-so traditional or attractive shade of pink.



After dark, a boat took us across to the main part of Bougainville. We met up with our police escort and off we drove to the central town of Arawa.



The next day, an early start to get to the southern town of Buin. There, the cultural groups were even more elaborately decorated. Men in pointy hats painted like skeletons were quite spooky-looking. Another group of men played bamboo pan pipes while they followed warriors dancing ahead with long spears, their heads wrapped in light brown bark, with holes for eyes and mouth.



Peter O'Neill and John Momis arrived and were ushered onto a huge sedan chair, hoisted onto the shoulders of dozens of men and paraded through the main street of Buin to the stage.



The speeches and cultural events that followed were met with a steady rain, but hundreds of locals stayed to listen to Peter O'Neill apologise for the conflict in the past, and to hear his offers of millions of dollars for new roads and other development projects.



I took shelter in the car with my camera gear, which soon became a little sauna, surrounded by the spooky skeleton men in their spiky hats. It was surreal - sort of like that scene in Titanic, but without Kate Winslet and directed by David Lynch.



The rain was even heavier further north and the rivers swelled. Our drive back to the central town of Arawa came to a halt as we forded a river, the water going over the bonnet and into the engine, which died.



Rolling up our trousers, we pushed the four-wheel drive to the other side of the river and our media team became bush mechanics. Before long they had the car going but it was pouring out white smoke and sounding a bit sick.



On the third and final day of the trip, it was the big one - the visit to the controversial Panguna mine. When it started in the 1970s this Australian-run gold and copper mine was the biggest in the world, but disputes over environmental damage and compensation led to conflict, which soon morphed into a struggle for independence and a civil war between Bougainville and Papua New Guinea.



The visit to the mine was scheduled for the afternoon but I was woken at 6:45am and told I had 10 minutes to pack and jump in the car - we're off to Panguna, the PM's chopper is leaving, we have to go NOW! A mad scramble: get in the car, tear off to the police station. There's nobody there. We tear off to the market. There's still no sign of our police escort.



Two hours later, we were off.



We pass the rusty 'No-Go Zone' sign at the roadblock, maintained by the hardline faction the Me'ekamui. The ceremony is held in the shadow of what was once a three story building, the living quarters for single women when the mine was operating but now a burnt out ruin.



Ex-combatants stood side by side with police to manage security, while 20 members of the Me'ekamui march and stand to attention in faded brown fatigues.



I'd been told that as soon as the speeches were over, we had to rush to the cars and drive ahead to set up for the PM's tour of the mine pit. This was it, the shots I had come for. I'd been told it was 20 years since the ABC had gained access to the Panguna mine. As the car climbed, the mine came into view and we stopped for a wide shot - I set up the tripod, got three shots and was back in the car two minutes later.



As we drove I went over what I was going to say in my piece to camera and made a mental note of the sort of shots I wanted to get inside the mine pit. And then, the road looked sort of familiar. 'Guys, where are we going? We're not going back to Arawa are we?'



We were going back to Arawa. At some point the plan had changed and the visit to the mine pit had been called off. But nobody mentioned that until it was too late and we were speeding back past the road block, away from the shots that were central to the story I'd constructed in my head.



Those three wide shots were all I had of the mine itself.



But that's how it goes. If Papua New Guinea is The Land of the Unexpected, I was 930 kilometres east of there and this, my first trip off-base as the new PNG correspondent, was a lesson in going with the flow. Plans change, time is fluid. That's how it is. This is Bougainville. This is Papua New Guinea. This is my new reality.



ELIZABETH JACKSON: And that was the ABC's new PNG correspondent Liam Cochrane.





08.02.2014

Source: Meekamui



SPEECH OF MEEKAMUI UNITY PRESIDENT







Transcript

MEEKAMUI UNITY GOVERNMENT PRESIDENT SPEECH DURING PNG PRIME MINISTER’S VISIT TO PANGUNA


Thank you Master of Ceremonies,


First I would like to extend a warm welcome to the Hon Prime Minister and thank him for accepting our invitation to visit Panguna today. I would also like to personally thank the Hon. Jimmy Miringtoro Member for Central Bougainville and Minister for Communications for his assistance in bringing about this historic meeting.

The Hon Prime Minister, National Government Ministers and Officials, ABG President, Ministers and Government Officials, Council of Elders of the Meekamui Panguna Land Owners, Church and Community Leaders, Police Officers, District Administration Offices, the Meekamui Defence Force, Women, Students and our beautiful young children of Panguna.

Today is a very significant day. It is significant because we the Meekamui remember our mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers who lost their lives fighting for a better life for the people of Panguna and customary landowners of Bougainville. It is significant because we focus on our future whilst remembering our past. It is significant because we the Me’ekamui, announce to the Hon PM of PNG and the world at large our intention to formally conclude the civil conflict that existed between Bougainville and PNG and most of all it is significant because we make peace and reconciliation the foundation of our future.

It is well known that the Meekamui through our then human rights leader, Francis Ona supported the peace process but did not sign the peace agreement because the terms for peace were never consented to by all our Council of Elders. I am afraid to say Prime Minister, that peace was secured for the people of Bougainville but a future for our people was not.

Hon Prime Minister many of the problems faced by the Meekamui when peace was secured still exist today and will continue until we find a solution.

To assist you understand the problems faced by our people it is important to consider our history. After World War II, the territories of Papua and New Guinea were placed in Australia’s trust under the United Nations International Trusteeship system. Australia’s powers over our territories were the same legislative, administrative, jurisdictional powers that Australia held over its own territories, however these powers were limited by clear obligations to;

• take into consideration the customary rights of Territory inhabitants

• respect indigenous peoples rights and interests

• prevent the granting of rights over native land to non-indigenous people except without the consent of the competent public authority.

Australia set up a public authority and this Administration granted between 1963 and 1965 several prospecting licences to CRA (now Rio Tinto). Successful exploration led to the Bougainville Copper Act which was legislated by the Administration in 1967 and subsequent granting of the Special Mining Lease in 1969.

We submit that the legislation and the granting of the leases was contrary to the clear obligations imposed upon the Australian Administration as Trustee. At the time, we tried to bring a claim in the High Court of Australia to prevent these actions but we were unsuccessful and this was the beginning of the injustice suffered by the Bougainville people.

In 1975, following Australia’s withdrawal as sovereign, Papua New Guinea became an independent State and adopted the Bougainville Copper Act 1967 with some amendments, which were adopted in 1974. Michael Somare, who was elected Chief Minister in 1972 became our first Prime Minister and assumed the responsibility for the people of Bougainville.

The Bougainville Provincial Government was formally established in 1974 to administer Bougainville as a province of PNG. To quell Bougainville’s calls for secession, Chief Minister Somare promised the provincial government that it would receive 95% of Panguna Mine’s royalties in addition to an effective veto power over further mineral exploration. A failure to fulfil these promises and a failure to increase the income of the mine’s affected peoples resulted in greater disaffection within Bougainville’s government and population.

The Panguna mine commenced production in 1972 and was a huge success for PNG. Tax revenues from the mine contributed 17% of internally generated government revenue, the value of minerals exported made up 44% of PNG’s exports, and PNG secured a 19% ownership stake in Bougainville Copper Limited which it continues to hold today. The mine however was a disaster for the people of Bougainville and in 1981 attempts to renegotiate the 1974 Agreement failed in the early stages. PNG rejected Bougainville’s demand for all or part of PNG’s equity, a greater share of tax revenue collected, an increase in the nominal royalty paid and an increase in the Non-Renewable Resource Fund levy.

The failure of PNG to negotiate meant that PNG prospered at the expense of the people of Bougainville and this inequality ultimately led to the Conflict that erupted in 1989.

As you can see from your visit today the damage suffered by our people is clear and has been well documented;

• The Jaba River is poisoned.

• Our people were relocated with a complete disregard for their needs and the needs of future generations.

• We lost our land.

• We were displaced from our homes by a Trustee appointed to ensure our protection and we were denied natural justice and compensation from a newly government appointed to represent our interests.

We now live in the ruins of the mine, our children require better education and our community requires better access to social services and infrastructure.

We the Tribal Government of the Meekamui, believe that the quality of any civilisation is measured by the way in which it protects its civilian rights, the way in which it cares for its sick and the way in which it educates its young people.

In Bougainville our Police Service suffers from a shortage of manpower, logistics and financial support.

In Panguna the Health Clinic is unmanned most of the time. We have no secondary schooling or technical college for our young people.

As President of the Meekamui it is my responsibility to work with you Prime Minister and all stakeholders to ensure that all of these services are improved quickly.

It is for this reason that I would like to acknowledge my personal appreciation for your visit to Panguna today.

Ladies and Gentlemen please join with me in showing our heartfelt appreciation to Prime Minister O’Neil for being the first Prime Minister to visit the Meekamui and the people of Panguna since the Conflict.

[Please everybody give a big Bougainville clap]

The Prime Minister should be acknowledged……. The establishment of meaningful dialogue between the Meekamui and the Prime Minister is essential if we are to achieve a better community for all our people.

The Tribal Government of the Meekamui would like to take this opportunity to assure the Prime Minister that we are not anti- business or anti-mining. The Meekamui are only interested in building a better community for our people and guaranteeing a bright future for our children. It is this commitment to our people and our future that stops us from repeating the mistakes of the past and ensures that our focus is entirely upon our future.

Prime Minister we have a historic opportunity to build a better Bougainville and a better and more equitable PNG that is defined by our future actions and not by our past. We have an opportunity to work together to ensure that our people will prosper and I am very excited to work with you on this historic project.

Ladies and Gentlemen shortly after this meeting the Leaders of the Meekamui and our advisers will join the Prime Minister in historic talks to build a better Bougainville. It is my hope that this meeting will provide a framework for future meetings with the Prime Minister and his advisers that will deliver the necessary services to protect our citizens rights, care for our sick and educate our young.

I would once again like to take this opportunity to thank him for his visit, may God bless you Prime Minister, our people and our beautiful country.


PHILIP MIRIORI

President