Panguna LOs reconcile – The National

The Bougainville council of churches leading a dawn service at Panguna mine pit at 4am attended by chief secretary Shadrach Himata and a number of departmental heads. – Picture courtesy of Anthony Kaybing

THE Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) has embarked on ensuring landowners in the Panguna mine area reach an agreement before they open up areas for possible development, according to chief secretary Shadrach Himata.
During a dawn service at the Panguna mine pit yesterday, Himata said whilst talks on reopening the mine were pending, the ABG wanted to ensure the landowners of the Panguna area come to a mutual agreement on the issue and properly reconciled.
The defunct Panguna mine was often referred to as the heart of the Bougainville civil war (1988 – 1997) that resulted in the closure of one of the world’s largest copper and gold mines more than three decades ago.
The conflict proved to be one, if not, the darkest periods of modern Papua New Guinea history with the destruction of billions of kina worth of property, the loss of more than 20,000 lives and the single largest callout of the Papua New Guinea Defence Force.
Yesterday morning, the first part of the Guava mass reconciliation programme was concluded successfully.
The Bougainville council of churches led a dawn service at the Panguna mine pit at 4am and was attended by Himata and a number of departmental heads.
A formal combined Sunday Catholic mass was held in what used to be the former Panguna township, where the Kurabang and Bakoringku clans reconciled. According to Himata, both clans acknowledged that the indifference and infighting between the Kurabang and Bakoringku clans fuelled by the local general opposition to the Rio Tinto operated Bougainville Copper Ltd that led to the Bougainville conflict.
The Guava mass reconciliation programme was being implemented under the Panguna mine dialogue strategy – a homegrown initiative developed by local leaders and endorsed by the Bougainville Executive Council to resolve 63 outstanding cases.
Component A of this strategy covered a range of processes and activities with the ultimate aim of solving outstanding issues and negotiating the possible reopening of the mine.
Following the reconciliations, President Ishmael Toroama was expected to visit Guava village and the grave of revolutionary leader Francis Ona this week.
Toroama, who was the Bougainville Revolutionary Army’s (BRA)commander, would also formally revoke the BRA’s standing orders of 1990 to signify the cessation of all hostilities of the BRA on Bougainville.