They were on a fact-finding mission to the Autonomous Region of Bougainville ahead of next year's planned vote on possible independence.

The aim of the mission was to understand the role churches could play in a peaceful and credible referendum on Bougainville.

They were officially welcomed by Bishop Abraham Toroiod the United Church.

Toroid the party and wished them a successful outcome for their visit.

In his response, Ribat said that his team were happy to visit and get to educated on the issues confronting the region as it prepares for the referendum next year.

After their arrival, the team met with the Autonomous Bougainville Government's President, Chief Dr John Momis at the Administration Conference room in Buka town.

They met several groups and individuals before they return to Port Moresby on Wednesday.

The Church leaders who accompanied the Cardinal were, Reverend Roger Joseph, General Secretary PNG Council of Churches, Bishop Rochus Tatamai, President of the Catholic Bishops Conference of PNG and Solomon Islands, Colonel Kevin Alley from the Salvation Army, Pastor Daniel Hewali Chairman AGAPE International, Bishop Denny Bray Guka, Chairman PNG Council of Churches Board, Josephine Advent Pitmur and Beatrice Tabeu from the UN Women.

The United Nations sponsored the trip.

Source

• bougainville.typepad.com
• radionz.co.nz
• Image: bougainville.typepad.com

The bishop of Bougainville, Bernard Unabali, says the church will support whatever the outcome would be - independence or autonomy.

He said this when preaching at Our Lady of Assumption Cathedral at Hahela in Buka last Sunday.

"We'll not tell you to vote for independence or vote for autonomy.

"We'll only support whatever the outcome is - independence or autonomy," he told the congregation.

He said he would not let the church become involved in politics, and wanted to see a clear line of demarcation between it and the government.

"The church should keep a fair distance from politics and only engage in the spiritual aspects."

Unabali said a peaceful post-referendum transition period was crucial.

Some of the spiritual events to take place before the referendum are reconciliation by clans at the village level.

A region-wide prayer vigil, would be held on the 14th of June, 2019 - just a day before the vote takes place.

The referendum on independence from Papua New Guinea next year will be conducted under the terms of the Bougainville Peace Agreement.

The Bougainville Department of Peace Agreement Implementation is touring PNG's main centres to make people aware of the upcoming vote and their right to have their say.

The department head, former Bougainville president James Tanis, said they wanted to encourage people to participate and to ensure they were enrolled in time.

"The Peace Agreement already says that they need to participate in the referendum, but what we are working on is a process through which we can confirm their eligibility.

"There are a lot of Bougainvilleans outside Bougainville. We are trying to establish contact with them."

Source

• radionz.co.nz
• looppng.com
• radionz.co.nz
• radionz.co.nz
• Image: catholicukes.org.au

Miriori is the former Bougainville Interim Government (BIG) and the Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA) and Secretary and international spokesman.

A referendum on the status of Bougainville is scheduled for June 2019. It is the final step in the region's lengthy Peace Agreement.

Miriori said there is no turning back because the people cannot forget about all the injustices and unfair treatment and the injuries caused to them during the crisis.

He said that Bougainvillean's have already paid a huge price with a loss of more than 20, 000 lives during the 10 years of conflict, mostly as a result of the Papua New Guinea economic blockade imposed in 1990.

The blockade continued until the signing of the ceasefire agreement in April 1998 under the leadership of the late Bill Skate.

The three former prime ministers who make up the delegation are Sir Rabbie Namaliu, Sir Julius Chan and Paias Wingti.

Miriori pointed out that Sir Rabbie Namaliu was responsible for escalating the Bougainville crisis by sending in the PNG Defence Force, while Sir Julius Chan tried to send the mercenary group, Sandline, into Bougainville.

Miriori said that geographically, ethically, culturally and historically, Bougainville was never meant to be part of Papua New Guinea.

He said they are by nature and have from time immemorial always be part of the Solomon Islands Archipelago but cannot be part of the Independent State of Solomon Islands.

"Bougainville has all the wealth and natural resources, a big enough population and the natural sea Boundary to become an independent and sovereign state on its own."

Source

• postcourier.com.pg
• radionz.co.nz
• Image: lfongroka.blogspot.co.nz

The details of the BCL forward plans for Panguna were made at a presentation by the company recently.

The chairman of the Port Mine Access Road, Mr Peter Miriona, said the proposal was satisfactory because ABG had its own mining laws in place guaranteeing full participation by the people and the flow of benefits, unlike the past plans which he said favoured only a few people.

The company proposed that from 2020 it would inject $US350 million dollars into the ABG's coffers.

And it said $US25 million would be available for distribution among the nine landowner associations closely connected with the mine.

Bruno Babato of the Panguna Mine Negotiations Office clarified that there were six original associations before the Bougainville conflict and four of the associations have received a total of over K5 million as initial payment of outstanding royalty from 1989 to 1990.

Babato said two other associations will get their payments once compiling of data is completed when officers from the office will be travelling there next week.

He said 70 per cent of the landowners listed have passed away so what they have to do now is identify the eligible next of kin for the two associations.

The three remaining associations were established after the crisis.

BCL operated the Panguna copper mine for 18 years as a subsidiary company of Rio Tinto until it was shut down by the Bougainville crisis from 1988 to 1999.

The company now is under a new regime after Rio Tinto off-loaded its majority of 53 per cent shares, of which a majority of 36 per cent belongs to Bougainvilleans, to the ABG.

The National Government owns 19 per cent, Panguna landowners 17 per

Source

• postcourier.com.pg
• radionz.co.nz
• bougainvillenews.com
• Image: bougainvillenews.com

This controversial pit became the flashpoint for a bitter civil war in Papua New Guinea in the 1990s that cost as many as 20,000 lives.

Now, 27 years after the war forced the closure of the Panguna mine on the island of Bougainville, resources giant Rio Tinto has finally made the decision to cut its losses and walk away.

In a decision slammed as "remarkably unprincipled, shameful and evil", the mining giant has also side-stepped demands for a billion-dollar clean up.

Correspondence obtained by Fairfax shows the dual London-Melbourne listed giant insisting it has no responsibility for environmental or other consequences from the mine.

"We believe that [the company] was fully compliant will all regulatory requirements and applicable standards at the time," Rio Tinto executive Joanne Farrell wrote to Dr John Momis president of Bougainville's autonomous government, on August 6.

Momis said Rio Tinto must take responsibility for the mess it left behind, and has challenged the company over its claims of corporate social responsibility.

"They justify their position by saying they operated under PNG law, although everybody knows the people of Bougainville never accepted [that] PNG law was a just law," the Bougainville president said.

"When Rio walks away like this, the resource owners are left high and dry for no fault of their own. They are now going to be left with this hugely destroyed environment."

"It is a major disaster which the people of Bougainville do not deserve"

Rio Tinto had 53 per cent, and recently decided to get rid of its interest.

It gave the Bougainville Government 36 per cent and the PNG Government an extra 17 per cent to give both parties an equal shareholding.

Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister Peter O'Neill announced the national Government would give the extra 17 per cent to unspecified landowners of the mine area.

The decision infuriated the Bougainville Government, which has passed its own Mining Act and taken responsibility for the complex negotiations with the various landowner groups and former combatants in the conflict.

Source

• smh.com.au
• abc.net.au
• Image: asopa.typepad.com

Organisers of a week of reconciliation ceremonies held in Solomon Islands say the programme is a first step towards national healing.

Coinciding with the celebration of the countries 38th Anniversary of Independence last Thursday, the program marked 13 years of peace in the country after a bloody ethnic conflict at turn of the century.

Spanning five years from 1998 to 2003 the period known locally as the 'ethnic tensions' almost destroyed the country.

More than 200 people were killed, many of whom are still unaccounted for and tens of thousands of lives were adversely affected.

Fr John Patteson Ngalihesi, the National Peace Advisor to the Ministry of National Unity Reconciliation and Peace said the $US750,000 program was an important first step to healing a damaged nation.

Radio New Zealand's correspondent in Honiara said there has been controversy surrounding the events which do not include the two biggest provinces Malaita and Guadalcanal.

Following the one week reconciliation programme in Honiara the Government is planning to extend its reconciliation efforts to neighbouring Papua New Guinea and the Autonomous Bougainville Region.

Ngalihesi said resolving past differences "is the only path to true peace and security in the border regions."

"We had Bougainvilleans here during the one week reconciliation, they come as observers...so together we can do peace building on the border between PNG and Solomon Islands a bit better and in a way that can promote and harness peace among our people."

Described as the largest conflict in Oceania since WWII, the Bougainville war raged for a decade from 1988, with thousands of lives lost. It also saw serious skirmishes with Solomon Islands border police on the PNG/Solomon Islands border.

Source

• solomontimes.com
• radionz.co.nz
• pina.com.