From: "Vikki John" <VIKKI-AT-lexsun.law.uts.edu.au> Date: Wed, 28 Jan 1998 11:46:59 GMT-1000 Subject: M-NEWS: (Fwd) Bougainville - The Guardian 28/1/98 The Guardian January 28, 1998 Bougainville: historic cease-fire agreement The peace process took a concrete step forward with the signing last Friday of the Lincoln Agreement on Peace, Security and Development on Bougainville. After nine years of war and the loss of an estimated 15,000 lives on Bougainville, agreement was reached for a permanent cease-fire and the withdrawal of Papua New Guinea Defence Forces (PNGDF). The first step in the process was the Burnham Declaration signed by Bougainville leaders following talks in July 1997. The Burnham Declaration united the Bougainvillean organisations around a set of principles and a process for the achievement of a lasting peace and justice on Bougainville. It laid the basis for the subsequent negotiations. This was followed by the Burnham Truce (October 1997) and Cairns talks which brought PNG into the process and resulted in the blockade of Bougainville being lifted and the establishment of a New Zealand-led Truce Monitoring Group on Bougainville. The negotiations just completed at Lincoln University in Christchurch, New Zealand, take this process an important step forward. They involved leaders of the Bougainvillean Revolutionary Army (BRA), the Bougainville Interim Government (BIG), the PNG-appointed Bougainville Transitional Government (BTG), the pro-PNG Bougainville Resistance Force, a women's delegation and other leaders from the ground in Bougainville and the PNG Government. Continued page 5 Government leaders from Vanuatu, Fiji, Australia and New Zealand also attended. Solomon Islands Prime Minister Bartholomew Ulufa'Alu played a critical part chairing the negotiations. A Special Envoy of the Secretary General of the United Nations, Valery Marusin, attended as an observer. PNG had strongly opposed his presence but eventually agreed. "I'm happy with the leaders' meeting", Moses Havini, BIG/BRA representative in Australia, told The Guardian. "We attempted to achieve as much as we could within the Burnham Declaration." The cease-fire is the first of the points in the Declaration that were agreed to. It will come into force at midnight on April 30. The truce and presence of the Truce Monitoring Group (TMG) will be extended until that date. Peace Keeping Force By then arrangements should have been completed for its replacement by a Peace Keeping Force (PKF). "The Papua New Guinea National Government will seek the endorsement of the United Nations Security Council for these arrangements, including the appointment of a Special observing mission to monitor these arrangements", the Lincoln Agreement states. The PKF will be led by New Zealand which will provide the majority of members. Other members will come from Vanuatu, Fiji and Australia which will play a minor and more technical role. Withdrawal of PNG Forces PNG will withdraw its Defence Force from Bougainville "subject to restoration of civil authority". This was one of the most difficult points to reach agreement on in the negotiations. The people of Bougainville would like to see a complete withdrawal of the PNGDF as soon as practicable. It will be a phased withdrawal. It is hoped that as the PNGDF withdraw they will be replaced by a Bougainvillean police force which would take responsibility for civilian peacetime policing. The question of arms was another sticking point. PNG insisted on the destruction of arms. The BRA submitted that they should be disposed of. Agreement was eventually reached for the laying down of arms. The agreement states: "The parties will co-operate with the successor to the TMG in recording, locating and arranging disposal of all arms, ammunitions, explosives and other instruments of death, injury and destruction, including parts and ingredients of all the parties in Bougainville." The BRA and Resistance Force will be demobilised and their members undertake re-education and rehabilitation programs. Some are likely to join the new police force. Reconciliation All parties will co-operate in promoting reconciliation. A Bougainville Reconciliation Government will be elected in "free and democratic elections" before the end of 1998. The BTG will go out of existence. The Reconciliation Government will be the means by which the leaders of the different parties will be able to continue the peace process on Bougainville and the negotiations with PNG. The Village Court System which operated before the war will be re- established. Amnesty and pardon PNG has agreed to "grant amnesty to persons involved in crisis-related activities on all sides" and will "recommend pardons for persons convicted of crisis-related offences". It has also undertaken to remove bounties and grant freedom of movement. Restoration and development There is still a massive task of restoration and development, as well as reconciliation, as people return to their villages and try to pick up their lives again. The parties have agreed to co-operate on the restoration of normalcy, provision of communications and other essential services such as health and education. Australia has offered financial assistance and other international support will be sought. There is a tremendous will among the people to rebuild their lives. The Lincoln Agreement is a very important step forward. But it is only one step on a long march. Much of the detail of the Agreement has still to be negotiated and the political issues, particularly the question of self- determination for the people of Bougainville, have still to be tackled. It is clear from PNG's reluctance to any UN presence and a number of other areas of negotiation that the PNG Government is still determined to retain Bougainville as part of PNG. The parties will meet again on Bougainville to address the political issues before the end of June 1998. It remains to be seen if PNG holds to its side of the agreement. This is the sixth attempt at a peace process and so far the most promising.
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