Date: Wed, 26 Jun 1996 10:35:50 -0700 From: Sasha Baer <sashab-AT-magna.com.au> Subject: Bougainville Update - 26/6/96 Sydney Morning Herald, June 26, 1996 =================================== WAR IS DOOMED, SAYS PORT MORESBY'S MAN By GREG ROBERTS In an embarrassing development for the Papua New Guinean Government, the Premier of Bougainville, Mr Theodore Miriung, supported calls for independence for the strife-torn island and said the military offensive was doomed to fail. Government-controlled "care" centres housing an estimated 50,000 people - close to a third the island's population - were suffering severe shortages of food and medicines, Mr Miriung told the Herald by telephone from the island of Buka. He described as "evil" the apparent extrajudicial killings by the PNG military last week of eight former members of the separatist Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA). Mr Miriung, a former judge and a senior chief, is a highly respected Bougainvillean who heads the PNG Government-appointed Bougainville Transitional Government based on Buka. His attack is particularly galling for the Prime Minister, Sir Julius Chan, because his appointment last year was intended to boost the Government's stocks and he was seen to support its centralist policies. But Mr Miriung said the military offensive launched by Port Moresby last week would not succeed in its aim to eradicate the BRA. "I believe the results of this operation will be zero for the national Government. The end result will be that lives will be lost, people will be injured and ordinary Bougainvilleans will be dislodged from their villages." Mr Miriung said a referendum should be held to determine whether Bougainville should remain part of PNG, and he believed the majority of islanders, who had suffered much during the seven-year conflict, would opt for independence. "We had been on this island for 25,000 years without anyone overlording us until stupid mistakes by [former colonial powers] Great Britain and Germany put us with New Guinea," he said. "We are an island apart from all others. We have enough common sense and enough resources to run our own affairs." Mr Miriung said the care centres were suffering "chronic" shortages and many of the people forced to find refuge in them would go hungry. He accused the Government of making "inhumane" decisions, citing last month's refusal to allow the French aid group, Medecins Sans Frontie`res, to operate in BRA-controlled areas, and the restriction of the Red Cross to Buka and the town of Arawa because the military feared medicines would find their way to the rebels. The island was suffering a crisis in health care, Mr Miriung said. There were acute shortages of drugs to fight potentially fatal illnesses such as malaria, health-care workers were not being paid and health centres were badly under-resourced and run down. The killing of the eight young men near the village of Sipai last week was unpardonable: "It is evil for the security forces to kill people instead of charging them with something so they can go through the available legal processes," he said. He believed the Government should establish a Human Rights Commission to investigate claims of abuse against both the military and the BRA. Repeated attempts to obtain a response from the Government to Mr Miriung's remarks failed yesterday. Sir Julius said last week that "everything humanly possible" was being done to feed the people in care centres. Heavy fighting was reported late yesterday between rebels and the military near Luagu village in southern Bougainville as the offensive continued. The PNG military commander, Brigadier-General Jerry Singirok, began meetings with senior Australian defence personnel in Canberra yesterday to brief them on the offensive. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Contact Details: =============== Vikki John (BFM) +61-2-558-2730 email: V.john-AT-uts.edu.au Moses Havini (BIG) +61-2-804-7602 Max Watts +61-2-818-2343 email: MWATTS-AT-fisher.biz.usyd.edu.au (Journalist specialising in Bougainville, East Timor and West Papua issues) Bougainville Freedom Movement P.O. Box 134, Erskineville, NSW 2043, Australia ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Regards Sasha Sasha Baer International Amateur Radio Network Bougainville Freedom Movement Royal Volunteer Coastal Patrol Voicemail: +61-2-513-5614 sashab-AT-magna.com.au http://www.magna.com.au/~sashab/ --- from list marxism-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
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