By Max Lane
The first meeting between representatives of the Bougainville Interim Government and the BRA with the North Solomons Peace Negotiating and Monitoring Committee (NSPNMC) concluded in Honiara on July 30.
The committee includes representatives of Bougainvillians in PNG occupied areas as well as all of the Bougainvillian politicians in Port Moresby. The meeting was arranged independently by concerned Bougainvillians following the failure of the PNG government to respond to the peace processes proposed by the NSPNMC. The aim of the meeting was to begin the process of organising a pan-Bougainville conference aimed at negotiating a peace.
A joint statement was issued from the conference calling on the PNG government to facilitate peace processes through the Peace Negotiating and Monitoring Committee (NSPNMC).
Spokesman for the central delegation, Martin Miriori, reiterated the Interim Government's and the BRA's commitment to find peace. "From what we have heard here at the meeting all Bougainvillians are now looking towards peace. This meeting is a small step in the right direction. The ball is now back in PNG's court to make the funds and facilities available to the Peace Committee for their work to continue. We have given our support to this committee's initiatives and we are ready to work with them for peace. The Interim Government has made many peace offerings to PNG over these past years but now we are unified with other Bougainvillians in calling for a negotiated settlement."
Miriori also stated that the Interim Government had agreed to encourage the BRA and the Bougainville resistance forces to declare a ceasefire. "We are actively seeking a peaceful solution. It will not be easy but it is the only answer if our culture is to survive and avoid a future of military occupation and inhumanity."
The meeting also agreed to include Miriori as a full member of the NSPMNC. "I am very happy about this initiative", he said. "Working closely together there is now a real chance for peace."
The joint statement issued after the meeting also included a call for the women, churches, and other concerned Bougainvillians to co- ordinate their actions through NSPNMC.
Meanwhile, representatives of the Bougainville independence movement have been experiencing harassment in their lobbying activities in the South Pacific area. A delegation from the Bougainville Interim Government attempting to attend a meeting of the South Pacific Forum starting August 7 was denied visas to enter Nauru. On August 4, Sydney-based Bougainvillean international political representative, Moses Havini, was harassed and man-handled as he was being processed entry into back on the Solomon Airline flight to New Zealand.
Commenting from Auckland on August 5, Havini said: "It's a shame that Pacific countries who most of them are members of the United Nations, can ignore the war on Bougainville, which is equivalent of the Bosnia Sarajevo war in Europe." Havini added that he had never once been stopped in Europe and Asia during his four years of lobbying the Bougainville case. "Only in my own backyard, in my own waters, in my own region, in our own Regional Forum can this happen. I am continuing to Nauru, even if they have to put me in jail in that country."