Michael Kabuni - asks how Bougainville electoral processes, so capable in the referendum of 2019, could be so questionable in last month’s regional election

MICHAEL KABUNI

| Academia Nomad | Edited

WAIGANI - Let’s begin with a quick summary of what this article is about.

Llane Munau last month was the lone female candidate contesting Bougainville’s regional election for a seat in Papua New Guinea’s national parliament.

Llane Munau - Sought to become the first Bougainville woman to sit in PNG's national parliament

MICHAEL KABUNI
| Academia Nomad | Edited

WAIGANI - The Bougainville Regional seat represents the people of Bougainville in the Papua New Guinea parliament.

It was left vacant when the incumbent resigned to contest the Bougainville presidential election in 2019, making a by-election necessary.

Ishmael Toroama - has already begun to show his strength as the leader of Bougainville

KEITH JACKSON

NOOSA – Bougainville’s new president, Ishmail Toroama, who has impressed people during his first three months in office, has given the strongest indication yet that he’s unwilling to bow to pressure from foreign mining companies or their go-betweens in the province.

In a sternly worded media statement he has hit out at Perth-based Caballus Mining which earlier this month apparently organised international media distributor, Cision PR Newswire, to issue a press release on behalf of the ‘Panguna Tanku'urang Chiefs’ stating Caballus would be the “perfect mining partner” for Bougainville.

Chris Warrillow on the radio transceiver at Mainoki in Bougainville, 1967

CHRIS WARRILLOW

WANTIRNA, VIC - I am grateful to Bill Brown (A Kiap’s Chronicle, Chapter 29) for attempting to set straight the record in relation to field officers’ involvement in the lead-up to the establishment of CRA’s copper mine on Bougainville in the 1960s.

However, it still disappoints me that the records of academics will probably be the ones most relied on by researchers in the future and whose accounts will remain permanently impressed in the minds of most of their readers.

The historic first meeting between U-Vistract's Noah Musingku and Bougainville's President Toroama (Anthony Kaybing)

KEITH JACKSON

NOOSA – The Bougainville government continues to make headway in unifying his people as it prepares for consultations with the Papua New Government on independence for the autonomous province.

And on Friday it was with unity in mind that Bougainville president Ishmael Toroama met with U-Vistract leader Noah Musingku.

President Toroama speaking at the first Bougainville cabinet meeting held in a rural area

ANTHONY KAYBING
| Office of the ABG President

TONSU – In a first-time initiative yesterday, the Bougainville Executive Council convened for the first time outside the capital, Buka.

The full cabinet met in the Tonsu constituency on Petatz Island as part of president Ishmael Toroama’s policy of bringing governance structures to the people.

1997 was a dangerous year in PNG, but it ended  more positively with Sir Mekere Morauta  at the helm

SCOTT WAIDE
| My Land, My Country

LAE - In the first quarter of 1997, word came out that the government of Sir Julius Chan was in talks with a British security contractor, Tim Spicer, to bring in South African mercenaries to end the Bougainville civil war that had been running for eight years.

The protracted conflict had seen the PNG Defence Force (PNGDF) withdraw from Bougainville, depleted, demoralised and badly in need of rebuilding.

James Marape and Ishmael Toroama exchange the agreement that will guide the joint consultation on Bougainville's political future

KEITH JACKSON

NOOSA – The Papua New Guinea and Bougainville leaders have announced the immediate start of joint consultations on the outcome of Bougainville’s 2019 referendum in which 98% of voters opted for the autonomous province to become independent.

PNG prime minister James Marape and Bougainville president Ishmael Toroama reaffirmed that their governments are committed to the process of consultations on the referendum result.

Youths at Roreinang Catholic mission listen to President Toroama discuss the challenges ahead

ANTHONY KAYBING
| Office of the ABG President

BUKA - President Ishmael Toroama has urged Bougainvilleans to stand firm in the region’s aspirations for political independence as Bougainville begins the new year.

Speaking to youths from different Christian denominations throughout Bougainville gathered at Roreinang United Church Mission, the president asked: “Are we one of those patriotic Bougainvilleans willing to go the distance to achieve Bougainville’s aspirations for independence?

Ishmael Toroama - "“We must maintain the spirit of independence that we have always known in our lives"

ANTHONY KAYBING
| Office of the President

BUKA - In his first Christmas message, Bougainville president Ishmael Toroama has urged Bougainvilleans to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ and also to think about being ‘Independence Ready’ by taking responsibility.

“Whether it is at individual, family, clan, church, community, council of elders or other level, we all have a responsibility to be independence ready,” President Toroama said.

MV Craestar alongside the small ships’ wharf at Kieta circa 1965 (Peter  Steele)

BILL BROWN MBE

THE CHRONICLE CONTINUES - On 24 July 1968, Craestar (1), Conzinc Rio Tinto's (CRA) research vessel, motored into Kieta harbour.

None of the onlookers were excited, even though Craestar had a helicopter sitting on a landing pad over the stern.

The townsfolk had seen it all before. CRA had been using the vessel's helicopter to move drilling gear around Panguna in 1965.

Ishmael Toroama - "Put party politics aside and vote for who will best deliver independence for Bougainville” 

ANTHONY KAYBING
Office of the Bougainville President

BUKA - Bougainvilleans are being urged to vote responsibly during the by-election for the regional seat currently underway.

“The Bougainville regional seat is equivalent to a governor’s seat in other provinces so this is not a time to vote for beginners,” says President Ishmael Toroama.

Bougainville's former - and future - capital Arawa. Before the civil war, a large and well established town

KEITH JACKSON

NOOSA – In its first 80 days, the Autonomous Bougainville Government under president Ishmael Toroama has secured a number of benchmarks.

Since September’s swearing-in of Ishmael Toroama as the fourth president of Bougainville, he has been focused on realigning the government’s priorities for developing the region and making it ready for independence.

President Ishmael Toroama receives a report on the new economic zone project from Robert Hamal Sawa. Minister for Lands and Physical Planning

ANTHONY KAYBING
| Office of the President

BUKA – Bougainville’s president Ishmael Toroama has vowed to continue to protect landowner rights as the region embarks on an energetic program of economic development.

President Toroama was announcing the Bana Special Economic Zone at Mamarego Primary School in the Bana District of South Bougainville.

The Bana people have taken the first step to establishing the economic zone along Augusta Bay.

Headline, byline and deck  of the article in the Lowy Interpreter that angered the Bougainville president

KEITH JACKSON

NOOSA – Bougainville president Ishmael Toroama has expressed “alarm” at an article by former Bougainville government advisor Gordon Peake alleging he had “call[ed] into question the integrity of the Autonomous Bougainville Government and our commitment to the peace process”.

The article appeared last week in The Interpreter, a website published by the Sydney-based Lowy Institute.

PNG prime minister James Marape and Bougainville president Ishmael Toroama

KEITH JACKSON

NOOSA – Despite Papua New Guinea’s failure to convene a Joint Supervisory Body (JSB) meeting last week Bougainville president Ishmael Toroama has accepted reassurances from prime minister James Marape of his continuing support for the Bougainville peace process and post-referendum consultations.

JSB is the superior assembly established to facilitate effective policy-making and communications between the autonomous region of Bougainville and Papua New Guinea, its importance heightened by last year’s overwhelming pro-independence referendum vote in Bougainville.

JOSEPH NOBETAU

PORT MORESBY - In his judgement on Monday, Justice Nicholas Miviri of the national court held that my termination as chief secretary of the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) failed to adhere to the process prescribed in the Bougainville Constitution.

In doing so, His Honour provided a damning assessment of the actions of the defendant, in this case the Bougainville Executive Council, in failing to abide by the very laws they were elected to uphold.

Hon Simon Pentanu is speaker of the Bougainville parliament and a former chief ombudsman of PNG

SIMON PENTANU
| Bougainville News

BUKA - Panguna and its landowners had a mix of these feelings during the time of mining but have not felt this way since the mine was forcibly shut at the end of 1989. That is 31 years ago now.

The ordinary folk up there still wake up to an altered landscape with their women – mothers of the land –still asking what they did to deserve this as they eke out their livelihood from their usable plots of land, mostly on hillsides.

Joseph Nobetau - "The case always meant more than a job to me"

JOSEPH NOBETAU

BUKA - Today in the Papua New Guinea national court, Justice Nicholas Miviri ruled that my termination as chief secretary of the Autonomous Bougainville Government was unconstitutional

I stand vindicated.

It has taken a long time to reach this point: more than 12 months since initiating legal proceedings against the Bougainville executive council and government, who dragged the matter out and delayed proceedings at every opportunity.

Ishmael Toroama and United States ambassador to PNG, Erin Elizabeth McKee

ANTHONY KAYBING
| Office of the Bougainville President

BUKA - The Autonomous Bougainville Government says it is making headway part way in its first 100 days in office with progress in the economic and development sectors as well as in its relations with the Marape government.

President Ishmael Toroama’s overarching theme over this period has been ‘Innovation and Change’ with a strong focus on raising revenue and steadying the government’s course ready for post-referendum consultations with the national government.

Liam Fox meets Noah Musingku in 2010 (ABC News)

LIAM FOX
| Australian Broadcasting Corporation

SYDNEY - Noah Musingku turns to an ancient PC that looks like it stopped working years ago, taps away on the keyboard seriously for a few seconds, then looks up and says: "You're a millionaire, Gorethy!"

"Your account has $2 million in it. Just send me your bank account details and we'll send the money to you," Musingku says.

James Marape and Ishmael Toroama - trying to get substantive talks going

ANTHONY KAYBING

BUKA – Papua New Guinea prime minister James Marape and Bougainville president Ishmael Toroama met in Port Moresby on Monday to lay the foundations for a successful meeting of the Joint Supervisory Body (JSB) in Kokopo later this month.

JSB is the formal body in which matters affecting the relationship between PNG and Bougainville are thrashed out.

President Ishmael Toroama meets prime minister James Marape at Buka in September

ANTHONY KAYBING
| Office of the ABG President

BUKA – Bougainville president Ishmael Toroama will confer with Papua New Guinea prime minister James Marape at the Bougainville pre-joint supervisory body meeting in Port Moresby next Monday.

The meeting is a prelude to a formal proper JSB meeting scheduled for 30 November 30 in Kokopo, East New Britain.

ANTHONY KAYBING

Eivo Torau women bear gifts of food at the civil war reconciliation ceremony

BUKA - The Eivo Torau Constituency in Central Bougainville has conducted six reconciliation ceremonies to signify its readiness to progress economic development for its people and the rest of Bougainville.

The six ceremonies were to resolve grievances and issues between parties over conflicts that occurred during the Bougainville Crisis.

They were a prelude to the redevelopment of the now defunct Manetai Limestone Project that existed pre-crisis.

President Toroama says the rights of people as resource owners come first

ANTHONY KAYBING
| Office of the ABG President

BUKA – Bougainville president Ishmael Toroama has welcomed the efforts by the Eivo-Torau Constituency to move past their differences and focus on the economic development of their land.

The president was witnessing the Eivo-Torau Constituency reconciliation ceremony at the Manetai Catholic Parish as the people settled their differences from the Bougainville Crisis of the 1990s.

President Ishmael Toroama - "Bougainville's youth must start engaging in political decision-making"

ANTHONY KAYBING
| Office of the President

BUKA – Bougainville’s youth has been challenged to maintain the Papua New Guinea autonomous region’s political journey to independence at every level of Bougainville society.

Newly-elected President Ishmael Toroama issued the challenge during this week’s Bougainville Regional Youth Forum at the Kuri Resort.

AMANDA HA WATSON, JEREMY MILLER
& ADRIANA SCHMIDT
| ANU Department of Pacific Affairs

CANBERRA - In late 2019, the people of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville voted in a non-binding referendum offering two choices: greater autonomy or independence.

People voted overwhelmingly for independence (97.71%) in what was widely regarded to be a successful process with an informed and engaged citizenry.

Theonila Roka Matbob looks down on Panguna mine (Human Rights Law Centre - Reuters)

LEANNE JORARI & BEN DOHERTY
| The Guardian | Judith Nielson Institute | Extract

Link here to the complete story in The Guardian

PORT MORESBY - For all of Theonila Roka Matbob’s three decades, the scar on her land that was once the world’s largest copper mine has cast a pall.

The Panguna mine in Bougainville, eastern Papua New Guinea, has not yielded a single ounce in her lifetime – forced shut the year before Matbob was born - but she grew up in the shadow of the violent civil war it provoked.

Author Leonard Roka is now a farmer and educational entrepreneur in Bougainville

LEONARD FONG ROKA

Award-winning author Leonard Roka is the brother of Theonila Roka Matbob. He was among the 15 losing candidates who stood in the seat Theonila won in the recent Bougainville election. This story was originally published in PNG Attitude on 29 November 2015

BUKA - At the peak of the Bougainville Crisis my father was gunned to death while my mother struggled to save his life as she confronted blood-hungry Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA) men from our own Kieta society in Central Bougainville.

So it was that great inhumanity murdered my dad, John Roka, who so loved Bougainville and his Bougainvillean family. Inhumanity was perpetrated in the name of Bougainville freedom.

James Marape in Bougainville last month (Post-Courier)

RICHARD EWART
| ABC Pacific Beat | Edited extracts

MELBOURNE - The overwhelming vote for independence in Bougainville, and now the election of a new president for the autonomous region, appears to have spooked Papua New Guinea's prime minister, James Marape.

He has raised the possibility of a change to the constitution to prevent any other PNG province from promoting the subject of independence or autonomy.

"We live with the impacts of Panguna every day,” says Theonila Roka Matbob,  local landowner and Bougainville education minister pictured at the closed Panguna mine pit last year (Human Rights Law Centre)

LIVIA ALBECK-RIPKA
| New York Times

DARWIN, Australia — The mining giant Rio Tinto has been accused of environmental and human rights violations in a complaint that says an abandoned mine is leaking waste and poisoning rivers on the island of Bougainville.

The claim, signed by 156 residents of the autonomous region in Papua New Guinea, is seeking an investigation by the Australian government into what it calls Rio Tinto’s failure to clean up millions of tons of waste at the former Panguna copper and gold mine.

James Marape and Ishmael Toroama at Bougainville's presidential inauguration

KEITH JACKSON

NOOSA - In his inauguration address to the Bougainville House of Representatives, new president Ishmael Toroama revealed his leadership strategy, the first element of which is the autonomous province taking “political control of its own destiny”.

“We must be masters of our destiny, and we can only do this by putting our own ‘software’ into the structures and institutions we are going to build,” Toroama said, launching his five-year term as president of Bougainville’s 380,000 people.

Sir Mel Togolo - "Rio Tinto’s readiness to enter discussions is a positive development and BCL intends to play a constructive part”

DENIKA SEETO
| Bougainville Copper Limited

BUKA - Rio Tinto’s readiness to enter talks with key stakeholders about social and environmental issues arising from its prior operation of the Panguna mine, has been welcomed by Bougainville Copper Limited (BCL).

Rio Tinto was responding to a complaint brought by the Human Rights Law Centre on behalf of residents and communities in Bougainville and reportedly said it is ready to enter into discussions with those that have filed the complaint as well with BCL, the Autonomous Bougainville Government and the PNG government.

Inauguration of Ismael Toroama (right) James Marape (left) and former President John Momis (behind) (Bougainville Electoral Commission)

NEWS DESK
| Radio New Zealand

BUKA - Papua New Guinea prime minister James Marape is in Bougainville today to witness the swearing in of the autonomous region's new president.

Ishmael Toroama, a former rebel militant commander, was elected as Bougainville's president last week.

Bougainville president-elect Ishmael Toroama

NEWS DESK
| Radio New Zealand

AUCKLAND - Former commander of the Bougainville Revolutionary Army, Ishmael Toroama, yesterday won a clear majority to take over the presidency of Bougainville.

In his acceptance speech, Toroama appeared to hit back at allegations from the outgoing president, John Momis, who suggested there had been corruption in the poll.

Colonel Siale Francis Diro of the PNGDF meets former foe and BRA commander Ishmael Toroama

KEITH JACKSON

NOOSA – Ishmael Toroama, who has just been voted in as President-elect of Bougianville, built his reputation as a bold fighter and later a commander in the Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA).

The BRA was engaged in a 10-year civil war in the 1990s with the aim of closing the Panguna copper and gold mine and gaining the independence of Bougainville from Papua New Guinea.

Ishmael Toroama

KEITH JACKSON

MONDAY AFTERNOON UPDATE

NOOSA – The nineteenth elimination count in the Bougainville presidential election was completed this afternoon with the candidate who has led throughout, Ishmael Toroama, maintaining a significant lead.

Toroama is still more than 13,000 votes ahead of the second-placed candidate Fr Simon Dumarinu, while former Bougainville president James Tanis found himself eliminated.

The longer the count continues, the further ahead moves Ishmael Toroama, who seems to have the Bougainville presidency in his keeping

KEITH JACKSON

MONDAY MORNING UPDATE

NOOSA – After the eighteenth elimination count in the Bougainville presidential election, the leading candidate Ishmael Toroama has surged even further ahead of the field.

With the elimination of Wesma Piika and Sione Paasia this morning and the pending elimination of former Bougainville Revolutionary Army commander Sam Kauona, Toroama is now more than 13,000 votes ahead of the second-placed candidate Fr Simon Dumarinu.

Ishmael Toroama has consolidated his position as  front runner in the Bougainville presidential election

KEITH JACKSON

LATE SUNDAY UPDATE

NOOSA – The trend is your friend, it is said, and the trend in counting votes for the next president of Bougainville remains firmly with Ishmael Toroama, who continue to move ahead of the field.

With the elimination of the fourteenth presidential candidate late afternoon it became clear that only the two leaders amongst the 11 remaining contenders can come close to an absolute majority of 71,725 votes.

The release of updated figures this afternoon showed Ishmael Toroama consolidating his position as the likely winner as he moved out to a 10,500 vote lead over second placed candidate Fr Simon Dumarinu.

KEITH JACKSON

NOOSA – The Bougainville presidential election has moved into its final stage with the end of counting of the 283 ballot boxes and completion of three days of quality checks.

None of the 25 candidates got even close an absolute majority of 72,213 votes so the elimination of lower placed contenders has begun.

Former Bougainville Revolutionary Army commander Ishmael Toroama - presently leading the Bougainvlle presidential count

KEITH JACKSON

NOOSA – Former Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA) commander, Ishmael Toroama, was retaining his lead in the Bougainville presidential election after the 280th count this morning.

The Office of the Bougainville Electoral Commission registered 222,333 voters and 446 candidates for the election.

Woman panning for gold in Bougainville

NEWS DESK
| Human Rights Law Centre

MELBOURNE - Mining giant Rio Tinto is responsible for multiple human rights violations caused by pollution from its former mine in Bougainville.

For 45 years, the Panguna copper and gold mine on the island of Bougainville was majority-owned by the British-Australian mining company, but in 2016 Rio Tinto divested from the mine, leaving behind more than a billion tonnes of mine waste.

Demonstration for Bougainville high school students on how polling booths operate

JONATHAN BARRETT | Reuters

BUKA – Young people in Bougainville are seizing the opportunity to help reshape the future of the autonomous region of Papua New Guinea as they began head to the polls yesterday to elect a new leader.

The general election is the first since Bougainville voted overwhelmingly for independence from PNG in a referendum at the end of last year, and the new president will manage negotiations on the terms of separation.

James Tanis - "Our aspirations for independence cannot be waylaid by impractical approaches"

JAMES TANIS
| Former President of Bougainville

BUKA - Greater voter participation in this year’s Bougainville government general elections will demonstrate the province’s seriousness to initiate progress following the 98% affirmative independence vote in the referendum last year.

The outcome of the referendum does not mean Bougainville is well on its way to being a fully-fledged independent nation.

James Tanis - "“My people of Bougainville will get through this pandemic. We are a resilient people who have faced adversity and prevailed time and time again...."

ANTHONY KAYBING

BUKA - Bougainvilleans are being urged to remain vigilant and to comply with state of emergency orders in light of the growing concerns over the Covid-19 pandemic which has already hit Port Moresby.

Former Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) president James Tanis has urged Bougainvilleans throughout PNG to adhere to restrictions to mitigate the spread of the virus.

Joseph Nobetau - a large, mixed and colourful field of candidates are offering themselves for election as president of Bougainville -

JOSEPH NOBETAU

BUKA - With 25 candidates set to contest the upcoming election for president of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, the opportunity for renewed leadership in the fledgling autonomous region is greater than ever before.

Coming off the internationally applauded independence referendum at the end of last year, Bougainville is now at a crossroads.

John Momis today - guided Bougainville through some stormy seas to the threshold of independence

John Momis as a young leader, 1970 - mature and already wise 

NEWS DESK
| Radio New Zealand

AUCKLAND - In his last speech in the Bougainville parliament last Thursday, president John Momis spoke passionately about a political career that began nearly 50 years ago.

He spoke of how it began in the early seventies when he was anointed by chiefs in Kieta in a cultural ritual and sent on a mission to help the people determine their own future.

Professor Ted Wolfers

President John Momis

NEWS DESK
| Radio New Zealand

AUCKLAND – Australian academic Professor Ted Wolfers says Bougainville's John Momis will be remembered for his ability to draw people together.

In February the Bougainville parliament voted down an attempt to change the Constitution to allow a president to contest a third term.

Thursday 11 January 1973 was a tough day for chief minister Michael Somare - helicoptered out of Panguna when felt to be under threat only to be confronted by an angry protest in Kieta

KEITH JACKSON

BOUGAINVILLE 1970-73 – Bougainville is a magnificent gem of an island; and its people are warm and generous in that customary Melanesian way.

Kieta, which had become the Bougainville district headquarters just before I arrived in late 1970, was an idyllic seaport nestling on the side of a steep ridge; its deep harbour protected from the ocean by Pokpok Island.

How Rio Tinto left the once pristine Jaba River - now a toxic 40 km drain to the coast

KEITH JACKSON

NOOSA - The Human Rights Law Centre in Melbourne has said Rio Tinto Ltd should fund an investigation of health and safety issues and clean up the environmental mess from the Panguna copper and gold mine in the 20 years from 1970 to 1990.

It says the review would be a starting point for compensation talks and negotiations about rehabilitating the old minesite at Panguna and nearby waterways including the ruined Jaba River.