As the people of East Timor struggle for their independence under the weight of the consequences of the Machiavellian machinations of successive Australian governments, another resource rich country in the region is calling its independence.
The people of Mekamui, known to most outsiders as "Bougainville" (named after a visiting French navigator) are insisting that a legally binding referendum on independence be held. Predictably, the Papua New Guinea government has refused.
Truth is the first casualty in war. It is also the first casualty in "peace operations" conducted by armies trained for war. These operations may be led by military officers whose specialty is counter-insurgency warfare. "Peace" becomes a euphemism for "pacification".
The Australian government is claiming that the majority of Australians who took part in the recent "consultations" on the government's defence discussion paper support a substantial increase in "defence" spending. What for? For more "peace operations", so that the Australian government can be a better regional policeman for the US?
By 1997, the Bougainville Revolutionary Army had won their war of independence. The Papua New Guinea Defence Force (PNGDF) was in turmoil — demoralised, unable and unwilling to fight — and holed up in their bunkers, just wanting to go home. Going home after a "tour of duty" was a cause for celebration among PNGDF soldiers who had grown sick of fighting on an island that belonged to someone else. The Australian-armed and -trained PNG soldiers had tried to crush the people's desire for independence through the barrel of the gun, and failed.
Since the early 1960s, when Bougainvilleans were first petitioning the United Nations for independence, successive Australian governments have consistently blocked the exercise of their inherent right to freely determine their political future the democratic way, by a referendum. Australian governments provided the PNGDF (much intensified after the most recent phase of the struggle erupted in 1988-89), with military advice and training, military aid in the form of Iroquois helicopters, mortar bombs, guns, grenades and bullets in an attempt to silence the Bougainville people's cry for independence and freedom.
When the military offensive failed, a diplomatic offensive followed, in which New Zealand purported to play the "honest broker" at first (even though New Zealand and Australian pilots had flown the Iroquois helicopters when they were being used as gunships to terrorise and kill innocent Bougainvilleans). This point was not lost on BRA leader Francis Ona, who was sceptical about the new peace drive from the outset.
Why is the Australian government still insistent that Bougainville remain under the sovereignty of PNG? Is it because of the fabulous mineral wealth that lies beneath the surface of the rainforest-clad mountains and valleys?
Prior to its closure in 1989, the value of the Bougainville copper mine, owned by Rio Tinto (56%) and the PNG government (25%), was A$1 million a day. Bougainville is the first place in the world where an indigenous people closed a mine that was destroying their land and environment and kept it closed. A success story like this is very threatening to the corporate moguls of mining, logging and oil companies. Is it any wonder the successful BRA freedom fighters got such bad press for so long?
Mining company executives in PNG shuddered to think that the same thing could happen there. Papua New Guineans near the Porgera gold mine formed a group called the "Porgera BRAs" and asked mining executives, "You don t want another Bougainville, do you?". Recently, a power pylon near the Porgera mine was brought down.
Indigenous people in many parts of the world are resisting the plunder of their land by mining and logging companies. The BRA showed the way. Mining companies can be beaten.
The Australian and PNG governments are playing with fire. By deliberately frustrating the deeply held yearnings of Bougainvilleans for independence, they are sowing the seeds of war. Bougainvilleans are united in their call for a legally binding referendum on independence. They were calling for a referendum 30 years ago. It is not a new idea. It is an idea whose time has come.
BY ROSEMARIE GILLESPIE