By Francesca Davidson

SYDNEY -- More than 70 people attended a meeting organised by AID/WATCH on March 25 to discuss the ramifications of the recent fiasco around mercenaries hired by the PNG government to intervene in Bougainville.

Speakers included Moses Havini from the Bougainville Interim Government; Kate Gilmore, national director of Amnesty International; the secretary of the Uniting Church's Human Rights Committee; and Liam Pheenan from AID/WATCH.

AID/WATCH is demanding that the Australian government cease all aid to PNG until Bougainvillean independence is assured. Some representatives from non-government organisations were concerned that this would result in useful aid projects being closed down. However, Pheenan pointed out that the main purpose of Australia's aid projects was to promote Australia's economic and trade interests. He added that any aid money given to PNG only frees up more PNG government funds to be spent on the war in Bougainville.

A picket of the Defence Department on April 3 to protest the continuing atrocities in Bougainville was attended by around 30 people. Protesters called for the immediate withdrawal of the PNG Defence Force personnel from Bougainville and for negotiations involving all parties with a view to self-determination for Bougainville.

The protesters also called for the destruction of the military hardware belonging to Sandline International which was to have been used in Bougainville but was re-routed to the Northern Territory on March 27.

Havini told gathering: ``Both the Australian and PNG governments have admitted that the war on Bougainville cannot be resolved by military means. The Australian government is in a strong position to destroy the mercenary equipment and withdraw funds to PNG until there is peace and justice on Bougainville.''

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