Ignoring Bougainville autonomy may rekindle conflict: Momis
22 May 2016
JOHN MOMIS
On Friday, for the first time in six months, and only after protracted efforts, the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) succeeded in convening a meeting of the Joint Supervisory Body (JSB), the high level group charged with implementing the peace agreement negotiated to end the Bougainville civil war. Observers say the meeting made significant progress in approving major steps to prepare for Bougainville’s referendum on independence to be held by 2020. This is an edited extract of President Momis’s opening remarks to the meeting, which included PNG prime minister Peter O’Neill. Download John Momis's full statement here - KJ
THE reason we are here is that we are implementing a peace agreement – an agreement negotiated with difficulty to end a violent, bloody and destructive conflict in which thousands of people died – people from not only Bougainville, but also from elsewhere in PNG.
The JSB is by far the most important institution for handling relations between the national government and the ABG. Its three main functions are to enable the two governments to jointly oversee implementation of the peace agreement, to provide a forum for consultation between the two governments and to help resolve disputes.
The ABG is a constitutionally established and highly autonomous government. It is very different to the provincial governments elsewhere in PNG. It is different in terms of powers, funding arrangements and intergovernmental relations.
But Bougainville is not being treated as a government with constitutionally guaranteed autonomy. Too often we are regarded as just another provincial government, or a department. When it comes to calculation of grants, national agencies believed they can make arbitrary decisions about the ABG. They ignore what the Constitution requires.
This must change. If it does not, then the ABG will begin challenging the breach of the constitution in the courts.
I fear sometimes that this failure to understand the ABG as a truly autonomous government is part of the reason why even the JSB is not working well.
For example, the procedures agreed under the Constitution say the JSB must meet at least twice a year. But in the last five or six years, it has not met even once a year on average. When it does meet, the officials try to deal with everything in advance, and treat the JSB as a rubber stamp.
I am sure, that, as usual, a group of national government officials has produced the draft resolutions that they expect us to sign. That is not acceptable. The JSB is the forum for leaders from both sides to engage directly and deal with issues. We are not a rubber stamp for what the officials think should happen.
The JSB must return to being the critically important forum for exchanges between governments.
The Constitutional roles of the JSB underline the importance of the two governments working together to implement the Peace Agreement in full.
Such cooperation is essential if the peace agreement is to work as was intended when it was negotiated. It is sometimes forgotten that the peace agreement was negotiated to end the worst conflict ever to have occurred amongst Pacific Island people.
We must remember that purpose of the agreement, or otherwise there will always be a grave risk that violent conflict will begin again. A renewed war would have terrible impacts, for not only Bougainville, but also the rest of PNG.
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