Date: Tue, 11 Mar 1997 13:12:20 -0500
Subject: M-G: Bougainville Update - 11/3/97


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>Date: Tue, 11 Mar 1997 17:22:12 +1000
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>From: Sasha Baer <sashab-AT-magna.com.au>
>Subject: Bougainville Update - 11/3/97
>
>The Bougainville Interim Government Media Release
>================================================>
>No. 324, Monday 10, March 1997
>------------------------------
>
>Bougainville Interim Government and the Bougainville Revolutionary Army call
>for Howard and Chan to reveal plans on Bougainville.
>
>Bougainville: Today the Bougainville Interim Government and the BRA urgently
>called for prime ministers Howard and Chan to reveal their alternative plans
>to the use of South African mercenaries under British "hired guns" Sandline
>International, against the Bougainville leadership and the BRA. 
>
>"It is very well to say that to 'reveal it all, might affect the sensitivity
>of the issue', but it is the lives of thousands of Bougainvillean civilians
>that are at stake; if the mercenaries march with all guns blazing and ariel
>fire power from the recently bought 6 PNG Russian made helicopter gunships".
>
>"We are very concerned over this secrecy. This is not the time to hide
>anything. These mercenaries ( Executive Outcomes/Sandline Int.) have already
>been condemned in a United Nation Report for having already "carried out
>"all kinds of illegal acts", in Sierra Leonne. A UN Human Rights Commission
>resolution in 1994 also called for all states to be aware of the menace
>caused by the activities of these mercenaries".
>
>"The UN resolution also affirmed that, ..." the recruitment, use, financing
>and training of mercenaries should be considered offences of gravity concern
>to all states."
>
>"The Australian Government had been accused of having its own mercenaries on
>Bougainville before. Will a new arrangement from Australia, and one that
>will be acceptable to the mercenaries, will be to replace the mercenaries in
>their current preparations and training for Bougainville?". These urgent
>questions need answers right now Mr Howard.
>
>"The Chan Government stands condemned in the eyes of the world in their
>desperate attempt to prove a 'military solution' on Bougainville; an idea
>that had already been proven unworkable by military strategists. By having
>hired these illegal 'assasins', I can assure you Chan that this won't make
>any difference whatsoever to my guerilla forces on Bougainville", concluded
>the President of the Bougainvillea Interim Government Mr Francis Ona from
>Bougainville.  
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Time Spicer: The lucky faceless Colonel with a past who says he doesn't
>murder, for money
>===========================================================================>============>
>March 10, 1997
>--------------
>
>by Max Watts
>
>On Wednesday 5/3/97 ABC's Lateline showed, or rather did not quite show, an
>interesting Colonel, or rather Lieutenant Colonel, LTC Tim Spicer, OBE,
>British Army, retired. OBE, that means, I am told: Order of the British Empire.
>
>Colonel Spicer was not quite shown, because he insisted on remaining an
>anonymous shadow. Quite contrary to my GI friends, who hardly mention that
>they were Privates or spec/4s, the Colonel always mentions his rank, even
>once retired.
>
>For Spicer isn't a military man now, he is in business. He is the CEO, the
>Chief Executive Officer of Sandlines International. Despite the fact that
>CEO Spicer will only come on Television as a shadow, he sees Sandlines
>International of London as a respectable, responsible, Company.
>
>Sandlines, he explains, has contracted Executive Outcomes, a South African
>Company, based in Pretoria. Both are acting, so the Colonel explained on
>Lateline, for the respectable government of Papua New Guinea. Their contract
>? To re-train the PNG army. The PNG Defence Force, though I have always
>wondered whom they are supposed to defend, particularly on Bougainville.
>
>The PNG army, or Defence Force, has been trained since 1975 by the
>Australian army, and - for several years - also by elite US Special Forces.
>But, as all agree, this has not sufficed to win the war against the
>Bougainvilleans. In Fact, it seems as if the Bougainvilleans were winning,
>on their way to their goal, self-determination. And keeping the Panguna
>copper-gold mine closed. Much to the unhappiness of Rio Tinto, the new name
>of Panguna's 'owner', RTZ-CRA.
>
>Colonel Spicer agrees that the PNG army has had problems, but thinks that
>he, Sandlines International and their subcontractors, Executive Outcomes,
>will be able to fix them, make the "Defence Force" capable of achieving its
>missions.
>
>Colonel Spicer cannot discuss, because of business confidentiality, any
>details of what these missions would be. Asked whether he, Sandlines or
>Executive Outcomes are not being paid to "take out" the Bougainville
>leadership, to murder - for money - the Bougainville Interim Government and
>the BRA, he at first does not answer, then says: "No. we are only Trainers."
>
>He insists: "We all are disciplined, and we ALWAYS OBSERVE THE LAWS OF ARMED
>CONFLICT."
>
>
>Colonel Spicer did not explain why he wanted to remain - if not anonymous -
>at least Faceless. He would not discuss his plans for the future, and
>volunteered little about his past.
>
>We knew that he had been in the British Army, in Northern Ireland. He was
>not asked how he had observed the Laws of Armed Conflict there, in Belfast.
>
>Perhaps that was an unfortunate omission. It might - in so far as past
>performance can tell us something about future actions - help us foresee the
>future, for the Colonel, his employees, and Bougainville.
>
>Nor did anyone think of asking Colonel Tim Spicer if he had heard of General
>Yamashita, and what he thought of that General's fate.
>
>
>In 1945 General Yamashita (check name) commanded Japanese forces in the
>Philippines. Some Japanese soldiers committed "Human Rights Violations", a
>recent name for "Atrocities".
>
>Japan lost the war. Yamashita was indicated as a War Criminal. His defence
>included the uncontested statement that by the time these particular war
>crimes had occurred he no longer had effective control of these units, these
>particular soldiers.
>
>This defence was not accepted. Yamashita was found guilty and hung.
>
>This judgement has become a precedent for the Laws of Armed Conflict.
>Colonel Tim Spicer tells us he accepts these laws. They consider commanders
>responsible for the actions of their soldiers.
>
>
>On 4 September 1992 two British soldiers of the 1st Battalion Scots Guards,
>James Fisher and Mark Wright, shot an unarmed Catholic teenager, Peter
>McBride, in the back, in Upper Meadow Street, in New Lodge, Belfast,
>Northern Ireland. They killed him.
>
>McBride's death was almost normal. The Irish are after all, used to being
>shot. I don't have the exact yearly total up to September 4th, but exactly a
>week later it stood at 59 Northern Irish civilians killed as a result of
>"terrorist violence". Just for that year. There was no separate account for
>Irish killed by British soldiers, so one must assume these are also victims
>of terrorist violence.
>
>Unfortunately for these two British soldiers all kinds of people took an
>interest in the particular shooting of McBride. Normally there is little
>fuss about such an Irish death, but even if one swallow doesn't make a
>summer - or perhaps this was the exception which proves some kind of rule -
>in this particular case there was not only an investigation, but an
>indictment. And after two years the two soldiers were tried and - found
>guilty of murder - by a British court! They were given mandatory life
>sentences in jail.
>
>Dead Irishman's McBride's relatives, surprised, cheered the verdict.
>
>The soldiers' commanding officer disapproved. he, their commander accepted
>the defence. he agreed that the two soldiers had acted in good faith, had
>acted in accordance with the law, with the rules of engagement and with
>their military training.
>
>Shooting McBride in the back - so the then Commander, he was Lt.Col. Tim S.
>Spicer, OBE - "was the correct course of action."
>
>The two British soldiers, who were really very unlucky, went to jail.
>Probably not for life, for they may be, perhaps have already been, released
>by the British Home Secretary.
>
>
>Their Commanding Officer, LTC Spicer, was not as unlucky as Japanese General
>Yamashita. As far as we can tell, no one seems to have considered Colonel
>Spicer responsible for this particular action of his soldiers. They have
>been found guilty of murder. Jailed. He was not.
>
>Colonel Spicer eventually resigned from the Army and went to the "Cavalry
>and Guards" Club, 127 Piccadilly, London W. 1. Then, now a civilian, he went
>on to become Chief Executive Officer of Sandlines International.
>
>He, Sandlines International and Executive Outcomes, are now on contract to
>the government of Papua New Guinea, Sir Julius Chan. As very well paid
>Mercenaries. We may, or may not, believe him when he says they will not
>murder for money. Only train other to do so.
>
>In any case, we do know that according to the now faceless Colonel's
>interpretation of the Laws of Armed Conflict, which, as he explained on the
>ABC, he will be teaching the "already quite well trained" PNG soldiers, it
>may be very sad when unarmed civilian teenagers are shot in the back. But it
>remains the correct course of action even when innocent young men (or
>women?) are "kbm" - killed by mistake.
>
>And of course the Yamashita decision is irrelevant in Belfast. Great Britain
>has not yet lost the war in Ireland.
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>PNG response to Sydney summit on Bougainville positive
>=====================================================>
>Radio Australia, Monday 10 March, 1997 (7:57pm AEDT)
>----------------------------------------------------
>
>Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister, Sir Julius Chan, has returned to Port
>Moresby happy to have headed off a rupture in relations with Australia
>during a meeting with Prime Minister, John Howard.
>
>Mr Howard says the meeting addressed the broad relationship between the two
>countries, including Australian reaction to the use of mercenaries on
>Bougainville.
>
>Sean Dorney reports, Sir Julius Chan is expected to brief his senior
>ministers on the discussions with Mr Howard, which covered possible
>alternatives to the mercenaries.
>
>No details of what John Howard described today on Sydney commercial radio as
>reasonable alternatives have been released. But a spokesman for Sir Julius
>Chan described the talks as extremely positive. Sandline International is
>providing the PNG army's Special Forces Unit with intense counter-insurgency
>training and its contract provides for helping upgrade the capabilities of
>the PNG Defence Force and advising on hardware. I understand that based on
>that advice PNG has ordered six Russian built M-I-24 helicopter gunships.
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>PNG Government moves on cost of RTZ-CRA shares in copper mine
>============================================================>
>Radio Australia, Tuesday 11 March, 1997 (7:22am AEDT)
>-----------------------------------------------------
>
>The Papua New Guinea Government has moved to reduce the price it may have to
>pay to buy out RTZ-CRA's 53-percent interest in the Bougainville Copper Mine.
>
>Sean Dorney reports that although no official offer has been made there are
>suggestions from Port Moresby the company could be billed for the
>Bougainville war:
>
>"The Bougainville Copper Limited Board is holding an urgent meeting in
>Melbourne today following the recent announcement by Sir Julius Chan that
>his government will be making an offer to buy out the majority shareholder,
>RTZ-CRA. Although the PNG Government has always held almost one fifth of the
>shares and been represented on the company board, sources close to Sir
>Julius Chan claim the Government will take the position the war was the
>fault of RTZ-CRA and so any purchase price would have to take into account
>the costs run up by the PNG Government since the insurrection began.
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>PNG offered aid to drop mercenaries
>==================================>
>The Australian, March 11, 1997
>------------------------------
>
>By MARY-LOUISE O'CALLAGHAN 
>
>MARCH 11: Australia has offered Papua New Guinea extra aid for Bougainville
>and a boost in training for the PNG Defence Force if it abandons its plans
>to use mercenaries to solve the nine-year Bougainville crisis.
>
>The Prime Minister, John Howard, said yesterday that he had discussed
>"reasonable alternatives" to the use of mercenaries with his PNG
>counterpart, Sir Julius Chan, during a five-hour lunch-time meeting in
>Sydney's Kirribilli on Sunday.
>
>A spokesman for Sir Julius, who returned to Port Moresby yesterday, also
>confirmed that such alternatives had been discussed and would now be given
>serious consideration by the PNG Cabinet. "It was a very, very positive
>meeting and certainly set things moving in the right direction," said the
>spokesman, who accompanied Sir Julius on his private weekend trip to Australia.
>



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