by ramunickel Konopa Kana | Post Courier
A petition to remove an Australian mining policy advisor from the Autonomous Region of Bougainville was met with stiff opposition by the Autonomous Bougainville Government leaders, which described the action as insulting.
A statement from the Bougainville Resource Owners Representative Committee (BROC) claimed a wide spread against the Ausaid funded legal advisor (named) in his bid to table a mining policy made in Australia, to bring back Bougainville Copper Limited (BCL) to the defunct Panguna mine. The Petition is sponsored by BROC, which was recently formed to represent the Panguna Landowners, upper, lower and Mid Tailings Landowner companies, and customary resource owners in North and Central Bougainville.
Central Bougainville Ex-Combatants Association, the ABG Minister of Veteran’s Affairs, and Church leaders have all endorsed and signed the petition in remembrance of the trauma the Bougainville conflict had inflicted on them over the years.
President John Momis in his maiden speech in the AGB house of representatives told the house that the Draft Bougainville Mining Policy Act 2013 will go through a wide consultation, which is very vital, before making a major new law. He said that it’s not really the Panguna mine that is the cause of the conflict but the problem was that Bougainvilleans were ignored because the mine was imposed on us.
“We have no role in the decision-making and without our consent, the bad impacts of the mine fell on us and we were no longer in control of Bougainville, instead, the outside world began washing over us like tidal waves, they (developer) cared nothing about the destruction of our society, culture and the environment.
A former Papua New Guinea Defence Force combatant (named) told Post-Courier that PNG soldiers know the risk of forcing BCL back on Bougainville against the wishes of the Bougainville people, and are well aware that BCL helped finance the Bougainville conflict, forcing the PNGDF to kill their Bougainvillean brothers.
“That’s why they (Bougainvilleans) are signing the petition to stop the current madness. Why would they want BCL back as if nothing happened? They also believe that this may lead to more bloodshed,” he said.
ramunickel | March 15, 2013 |