Writer captures B’ville crisis

A teacher at Buin Secondary School has written and successfully launched his first book based on the Bougainville crisis and the path to peace
in the Konnou constituency in  Buin, South Bougainville.
The book, aptly titled The Konnou Crisis, is written by Benjamin Heribeths and gives an autobiographical account of the conflict in Konnou, which ignited as the result of ideological differences between key groups in the final years of the Bougainville crisis.
An ardent supporter of Papua New Guinean literature, editor and publisher, Ben Jackson, in a book review, said The Konnou Crisis was a remarkable story, but one that would be familiar to many people in Bougainville who were affected either directly from years of destruction and violence, or indirectly due to the breakdown of families, infrastructure and basic services.
Jackson has described the tension, confusion and violence experienced by Heribeths as akin to those faced by many innocent bystanders who searched for peace.
In the book, Heritbeths explores the chronological account of the conflict in Konnou and examines the key events and issues at the time, including the marginalisation of women, the establishment of checkpoints, and the endemic alcohol-related violence.
Heribeths also explores the motives of those who wielded guns not as black and white, but in shades of grey, with the spectrum of reasons varying from ideology, power, money, revenge and any combination of the four, but often ending in the same way; with violence, fear and a lack of freedom.
The book describes the crisis in Konnou as continuing well beyond the signing of the Bougainville Peace Agreement, with factions tussling for power and, in doing so, usurping traditional
community structures and the relative peace they brought.
Jackson said, however, that the book really hit its stride when Heribeth connected the themes to his own experiences, such as his escape from the crisis through the mountainous jungles and in witnessing the rise in home brew addiction combined with the presence of guns and tensions left over from the Bougainville crisis which brought terrible consequences for the people.