Sir Mekere risked his life for peace: Friend

THE late Sir Mekere Morauta put his life at risk when he signed the documents and facilitated the roadmap to achieve what is now the Autonomous Region of Bougainville (Arob), says Aula Kobale.
Kobale, a former protocol officer with the Prime Minister’s Department during Sir Mekere’s tenure in 2001, told The National that Sir Mekere’s contribution to the peace agreement in Arawa was important.
“From all his achievements, his involvement in the 2001 peace agreement in Arawa has been overlooked,” he said.
“Under challenging circumstance, without security and breaching protocols, Sir Mekere and Lady Roslyn arrived in Arawa to participate at the peace agreement.
“It’s all about trusting somebody,” he said. “I trusted Ishmael Toroama (current ABG President), who was the Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA) commander at that time, when I shook his hand that all would be okay.”
Sir Mekere was due to travel to Arawa but a decision had to be made on whether there would be close protection for him on the ground because there was a ceasefire in place and there were also international peace monitoring groups. It was agreed that a close protection team would be sent and Kobale was assigned as the protocol officer to lead the advance party.
“Sir Mekere, Lady Roslyn and Robert Igara, who was the chief secretary at that time, risked their lives. We literally went through BRA parade. The peace agreement in Arawa at that time was signed under the BRA command,” Kobale said.