11:10 AM |
Nominations open for Bougainville elections
http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/pacbeat/stories/201003/s2857462.htm
Updated
Nominations have opened in what could be the last elections on the Papua New Guinea island of Bougainville before a referendum on independence. Writs have been issued for the Autonomous Bougainville Government's second elections since a peace agreement ended a decade-long civil war in 2001. The agreement allowed for a referendum on independence from PNG to be held sometime in the next five years.
Presenter: Liam Fox
Speaker: James Tanis, President, Bougainville
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TANIS: This election is going to be a very interesting election, because the way the vote goes will give an early indication of how the referendum might shape up because it is going to be the next president and the next house that may have the opportunity to make the decision of the date of the referendum.
FOX: And what will your position be on the referendum and your pledge to the people to say which way you will be going?
TANIS: I am a known former member of the Bougainville Revolutionary Army, which definitely is my position, has been always that Bougainville must be independent. But I also have a fall back, that whatever happens, it must be decided through a fair process, a fair referendum and the process must be credible and that at the end of the day, whichever way the vote goes, there should be no questions asked and that is the reason why we have always engaged the national government, we have always engaged the international community, that at the end of the day that the vote that is taken that is a vote that we arrive through a credible process.
FOX: And you mentioned that one of the big issues will be the economic recovery of Bougainville. Will the future of Panguna mine feature prominentally in talks about the future economic recovery of Bougainville?
TANIS: I think it is going to be one of the questions that we are going to be asked by the people. In my view, that has been one of the major weaknesses on the whole peace process so far: that the peace agreement never put in place any clause or even during the negotiation, I was the vice-president of the congress under Joseph Kabui, there was never any opportunity that the process or the leaders or the factions gave to the Paguna landowners who had that opportunity to present their grievances to the national government, present their grievances to the CRA/BCL (CRA/Bougainville Copper Limited) and fairly and surely resolve the Panguna issue.
Because my observation has been that when the leaders of Panguna continue to avoid . . . sorry not leaders of Panguna, leaders of Bougainville continue to avoid Panguna and think it is just another bad dream that we will just wake up one morning and it will be gone, that is where the mistake has been and that is one of the reasons why Panguna continues to be in a no-go zone and while it is in the no-go zone different factions use that as an excuse to continue to remain in factions Panguna and continue to bring instability and insecurity for Bougainville. So that was the main reason when I became the president, I decided to build Panguna head on and if the mine is going to be shut, okay, then let's agree to that. Everybody agrees, the provincial government, the people of Bougainville, CRA, everybody at least we shut it and we shut it and we don't hold anyone at ransom anymore. And if you want to open it, let's put it out in the open and let's open it and let's actually do it and open it. What is important in terms of peace building is no shadow area, not grey area to be left over Bougainville. Progress has been good. The Panguna landowners signed the resolution agreeing to a reconciliation and we have held that reconciliation already.
FOX: Do you have a position on whether it should open again or not or your position is that it should be left to the landowners to decide what the future of Panguna is?
TANIS: Personally, I would want to see it opened, but in a new arrangement. But whatever happensto it, people must be consulted, the landowners must agree, all other people in Bougainville must agree. So it is a situation where the landowners themselves cannot decide and the government itself or the ABG (Autonomous Bougainville Government) or myself, I myself cannot decide. The worst thing that we will ever do on Bougainville is to force issues down the people's throat.
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pacific islands media association
pima.nius@gmail.com
aotearoa, new zealand
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