Date: Fri, 28 Mar 1997 10:29:35 -0500
From: malecki-AT-algonet.se (Robert Malecki)
Subject: M-G: Bougainville Update - 28/3/97 Part 2


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>Subject: Bougainville Update - 28/3/97 Part 2
>
>Cheers as Chan steps aside 
>=========================>
>The Sydney Morning Herald, Thursday, March 27, 1997
>---------------------------------------------------
>
>By CRAIG SKEHAN and LUCY PALMER
>
>After days of mounting protest and military rebellion, the Prime Minister of
>Papua New Guinea, Sir Julius Chan, agreed yesterday to step aside pending
>the findings of an inquiry into alleged corruption linked to the hiring of
>foreign mercenaries.
>
>The announcement was greeted with wild scenes of rejoicing by a mixed crowd
>of civilian protesters and soldiers who had barricaded MPs inside Parliament
>overnight. Later, most of the soldiers returned to their barracks.
>
>The announcement was also welcomed by the sacked Defence Force commander,
>Brigadier-General Jerry Singirok, who for nine days had been calling on Sir
>Julius to resign.
>
>The Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Chris Haiveta, and the Defence Minister, Mr
>Walter Ijape, whom the army rebels had associated with the mercenary deal,
>will also stand aside.
>
>At a press conference, Sir Julius continued to defend his decision to bring
>in the mercenaries, saying he believed he had had the interests of securing
>a peaceful solution to the Bougainville crisis, and the national economy, at
>heart. 
>
>But he conceded that his decision did not reflect the feelings of the
>majority in PNG. "I may have slipped. In my zeal to solve it, it may have
>been a little bit rough."
>
>Sir Julius said had not been under duress from military leaders, who met him
>yesterday before Parliament reconvened, and said he had been assured that
>the army would uphold the Constitution.
>
>"Even though they put pressure [on the Government] they said they accepted
>the vote of Parliament."
>
>General Singirok said that the blockading of Parliament had not been his
>idea: "We have an element of renegades."
>
>He said the presence of soldiers at the Parliament had helped preserve
>order, "but it does not demonstrate [the views] of the Defence Force".
>
>Sir Julius agreed to stand aside pending the findings of the commission of
>inquiry into the $46 million mercenaries deal with Sandline International,
>which is due to report on April 18.
>
>He said a caretaker prime minister would be appointed from within the
>Government ranks rather than allowing the Opposition to impose its choice.
>
>Sources said the leading contenders from Sir Julius's People's Progress
>Party were the Loans Minister, Sir Albert Kipalan, who is deputy leader of
>the party, and the Chan ally Mr Ben Micah, who comes from the Prime
>Minister's home base of New Ireland. 
>
>Opposition parties are pushing for the Foreign Minister, Mr Kilroy Genia, to
>be the caretaker.
>
>Sir Julius said the Government would also hold discussions with the
>Electoral Commission on bringing forward the national election from June 14. 
>
>The Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, during a
>lightning visit to Port Moresby on Tuesday, urged that the election be held
>as soon as possible.
>
>The Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Downer, expressed
>satisfaction at the way in which the crisis had been resolved. "I think the
>signs are that the constitutional process is holding up," he told the ABC.
>
>Mr Downer conceded later in a speech to the Australian Joint Services Staff
>College that Australia had not paid enough attention to PNG since it was
>granted independence in 1975.
>
>Wily Sir Julius turns out to be a master of disguise
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Wily Sir Julius turns out to be a master of disguise 
>===================================================>
>The Sydney Morning Herald, Thursday, March 27, 1997
>---------------------------------------------------
>
>By CRAIG SKEHAN
>
>On Tuesday, Sir Julius Chan stood in Parliament in a well-cut business suit.
>Yesterday he reappeared looking just as dapper.
>
>In between, however, had been a night of escapades in which the Prime
>Minister had, according to credible sources, disguised himself in police
>uniform and cap to slip past the crowd of angry civilians and soldiers who
>kept most other MPs bailed up in the Parliament building overnight.
>
>Until Sir Julius arrived back at Parliament yesterday behind the darkened
>windows of a car, it had not been clear whether he was still inside
>Parliament or outside. Or, for a brief moment, even inside the country:
>Australia's Channel 9 breathlessly conveyed an unconfirmed report that Sir
>Julius had fled to Australia by plane.
>
>This angered Government ministers when they met for an emergency Cabinet
>meeting soon after. But disinformation was part of the Government's survival
>game: the previous night, a member of the Prime Minister's press office had
>been circulating stories that soldiers had occupied Sir Julius's office.
>
>A few MPs managed to escape the blockade by climbing over the high fence at
>night onto a golf course. For the less athletic majority - with soldiers
>searching car boots at road-blocks and an Australian-supplied Iroquois
>helicopter circling overhead - it was a night spent on their office floors.
>
>Perhaps we will never know whether members of the armed group which blocked
>the exits from Parliament were acting on their own or whether they had the
>tacit support of the sacked military commander, Brigadier-General Jerry
>Singirok.
>
>A close ally of General Singirok, Major Walter Anuma, yesterday talked twice
>to Sir Julius to assure him that the military would respect the Constitution
>and Parliament.
>
>But with the Parliament still blockaded, Sir Julius could be forgiven for
>doubting the worth of such assurances.
>
>Most of the 100 or so soldiers staked out around the Parliament were the
>very ones who were trained by mercenaries hired by the British company
>Sandline International.
>
>Throughout yesterday, information was leaking from Government ministers that
>Sir Julius was expected to stand down. As the nation waited, the weary MPs
>got on with normal business. Many questions involved lack of money to cope
>with thousands of people left homeless by tropical cyclone Justin.
>
>References to empty government coffers illustrated the wider concerns about
>management of the country. In recent days the mercenaries crisis became the
>catalyst for community protest over such concerns.
>
>Early yesterday afternoon, Sir Julius said it was important that the
>Parliament had not caved in the previous day to pressure from the military.
>"That is all I stood for," he said.
>
>The crowd outside evidently thought he stood for other things as well -
>including big- money politics and financial wheeling and dealing. He said he
>accepted that the Government had not lived up to people's expectations.
>
>"I hear the call, I hear the call," he said. Anybody standing by a window
>could hear the crowd's chant: "Resign now!"
>
>He didn't do that exactly, but he did step aside while the judicial inquiry
>into the mercenaries contract is held.
>
>Sir Julius probably gets sick and tired of being referred to as wily. But
>that was the term some of his foes were using yesterday. They know he had
>sidestepped the original military demand for him to resign.
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Army says it will now take a back seat 
>=====================================>
>The Sydney Morning Herald, Thursday, March 27, 1997
>---------------------------------------------------
>
>By LUCY PALMER in Port Moresby and agencies
>
>Although the Army has now assumed a new role as the "moral conscience" of
>the nation, military leaders in Papua New Guinea say it will not be taking
>further action against the Government.
>
>The sacked military commander, Brigadier-General Jerry Singirok, said the
>decision by the Prime Minister, Sir Julius Chan, to stand aside while a
>commission of inquiry investigates the Sandline mercenary affair was a
>win-win outcome for Parliament and the military.
>
>"I'm feeling good, naturally. We've allowed the democratic process to take
>place," General Singirok told journalists late yesterday.
>
>"I think [it was] a revolt, definitely not a coup. I was exercising my
>constitutional rights as a Papua New Guinea citizen. I was not satisfied, on
>behalf of the Defence Force, that what the Government was doing was correct."
>
>General Singirok's close ally, Major Walter Enuma, who was summoned to meet
>Sir Julius yesterday at lunchtime and was told of his decision, said the 40
>armed soldiers who had surrounded Parliament on Tuesday night and stopped
>MPs from leaving the building, had now been ordered home.
>
>"We fought against corruption, but the Constitution of the country must be
>upheld. I gave an assurance that we would be loyal to the Government and
>respect the decision that he's taken," Major Enuma said.
>
>Conceding it had been "very difficult" to contain some soldiers who wanted
>to join the public protests, Major Enuma said he felt he should apologise to
>the people of Papua New Guinea for the military interfering in the political
>process.
>
>"[It] was an extreme [situation], we do not want to be involved in the
>politics. We must be subservient to the politics," he said.
>
>General Singirok said although it was clear that military pressure had
>played a major role in the political process, the presence of "a few
>soldiers" did not demonstrate that the total rank and file of the army
>supported that action.
>
>"If it was a coup we have had about 2,000 soldiers out there. I think the
>presence of soldiers assisted the police in stopping what could have been a
>major disaster."
>
>The former commander, who admitted he would be happy to return to his job if
>the new caretaker government reappointed him, said he had the "greatest
>respect" for Sir Julius as a result of his decision.
>
>"There was a vote of confidence for him and he came out a winner. When he
>advised the Parliament he was going to step down, that was even more
>honourable for him. He is a very noble, very courageous [man]."
>
>Major Enuma said he had been assured by Sir Julius that there would be a
>general pardon for soldiers who had surrounded Parliament on Tuesday night.
>
>General Singirok said the PNG Defence Force was already discussing the issue
>of immunity from prosecution for offences such as mutiny with members of the
>new caretaker government. "It's up to the legal people to determine if
>indeed the actions of myself and 4,000-plus men is a breach of military
>discipline.
>
>"We've come out of this crisis. The men are really excited. It's never
>happened in our history that the commander can come out openly and fight for
>their rights. I had to do what I did."
>
>General Singirok said he was now planning to go on leave to his home island
>of Karkar Island off PNG's north coast and spend his time fishing.
>
>"I'm not a hero. I think everybody is a hero, and we have fought for
>something everybody believed in ... and we've opened a can of worms."
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>A knack for stitching up coalitions kept him at top 
>==================================================>
>The Sydney Morning Herald, Thursday, March 27, 1997
>---------------------------------------------------
>
>By DAVID JENKINS, Asia Editor
>
>In the short and sometimes turbulent history of Papua New Guinea, few
>politicians have stayed the course like Sir Julius Chan, a man renowned for
>his urbane manner and his diamond-hard determination.
>
>A successful copra trader who spent four formative years at school in
>Australia, Sir Julius won the New Ireland seat of Namatanai in the 1968
>elections at the age of 29. He has been in Parliament ever since, twice as
>Prime Minister. 
>
>As leader of the People's Progress Party (PPP), Sir Julius was forever
>stitching up the kind of parliamentary coalitions that are the stuff of PNG
>politics, a skill which enabled him to stay at the top of the political heap
>



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