BOUGAINVILLE’s new ray of hope

BOUGAINVILLE President John Momis’ desire to reopen the Panguna copper mine sends us back two decades to 1987 when he wore a different hat.
He was the regional member for Bougainville and campaigning for re-election to the PNG Parliament.
Frustrated that the Bougainville copper agreement had not been reviewed after the second deadline for the review had fallen through, Momis took his anger out, not on the government but it seemed at the time, on BCL.
His supporters – mostly women of Panguna – demonstrated at what was then called the Pink Palace, which contained the offices of the Bougainville Copper Ltd.
He called the mine the “BCL pig” and threatened to kill it (close it down) and get a new deal for it.
Fortuitously, or perhaps driven by such sentiments, Panguna landowners, under the leadership of the late Francis Ona, in December of that year broke into the BCL armoury and took off with a large amount of explosives which they used to start falling power pylons.
The resulting unrest led to the closure of the mine and the 15-year unrest on Bougainville.
Momis, returned as president in the Autonomous Bougainville Government, has now come full circle.
Perhaps, the time for his “new deal” has arrived.
There was an anxious moment when Momis was announced president that, perhaps, he might have retained the angry sentiments of 1987 but, with his reassurance that he wants the mine to re-open, it seems the way is clear.
That, he insists on a reopening of the mine being conditional upon landowners’ agreement, is also a step in the right direction.
He will find his landowners concur with him fully and will find them most willing on this course of action.
To re-open the Panguna copper mine, he will have to consult the “BCL pig” which holds the lease title over the mine.
Last Friday, Momis said a reopening of the mine was a good possibility but that such an event would depend entirely on what the landowners want.
He is ready and willing to consult with chairman of BCL, Peter Taylor, once this issue moves from possibility to prospect.
Momis will find a ready and willing landowner group.
Under former president James Tanis, very impressive progress has been made in preparing the landowners to come to the negotiation table as a unified body speaking with one voice.
The landowners have initiated a number of important reconciliation ceremonies among themselves to iron out outstanding issues from the crisis days.
Reconciliations have been conducted between the old and new landowners at Panguna, as well as a reconciliation at Guava village over the murder of a principal landowner Mathew Kove, murdered at the height of the crisis.
Reconciliation ceremonies have been completed at Pinei valley over outstanding issues to do with the road, mine and tailings leases trust. Most of the lower tailings area villages have been covered in reconciliations ceremonies.
All that remains are the villages from Kupe valley and the upper tailings villages.
Following all these tailings, the Panguna Landowners Association supports the re-opening of the mine as well.
Already in March, the landowners and ABG agreed to have a joint supervisory body meeting in Port Moresby for consultation between landowners and the ABG on issues surrounding the reopening of the mine.
The landowners’ position, from what we gather, is very firm on the long neglected review of the Bougainville copper agreement and call for a new deal to emerge from this review.
They are adamant that outstanding compensation for the year 1990 be paid to the landowners along with interest.
It is understood an amount of K1.46 million is owing and is believed to be held in trust with BCL for the purpose. The landowners are claiming the money with cumulative interest charged at normal treasury bill rates for the years to 2010.
It seems all that remains is the review of the agreement. That too should not be too hard as we expect all have been tempered by the events of the past 15 years.
As the president said, “this reopening will help generate money for the people to participate in the economy”.