Mission & Justice

Harlyne Joku, 13/8/08

One of the founding fathers of the PNG Constitution, John Momis, warned yesterday that the concerns of the people of Bougainville must be addressed before the Government could consider reopening the Bougainville copper mine. Mr Momis, PNG’s ambassador to China, made the remarks as one of the key-speakers at the 2008 UPNG Waigani Seminar which started at the University of PNG’s main lecture theatre yesterday. He said the Bougainville crisis of the late 1980s and 1990s was inevitable as successive Governments refused to listen to the pleas and grievances of the landowners and people of Bougainville.

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12/8/08

Mexico City: It’s the third morning of the International AIDS Conference in Mexico City and Francesca Semoso, Deputy-Speaker of Parliament for Bougainville, is sitting on a mat at the Pacific Meeting House, yet her passion and desire to make a difference in the midst of discrimination and human rights abuses are such she can barely stay still. ‘”It is my right to be gay, or lesbian, or to enjoy same sex marriage, everywhere in the Pacific,’ she declared. “Similarly, we need to educate our youth to be responsible and practise safe sex, rather than tell them “no” and shun them,’’ she says. “Being judgmental, and curtailing discussions about sex and sexual health, is simply not helpful.’’

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12/8/08

The people of Panguna, dubbed the “last frontier” of the peace process in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, have unanimously agreed to have reconciliation among them. In an overwhelming show of solidarity, the Me’ekamui Government of Unity, its military arm the Me’ekamui Defence Force, chiefs, men, women and youth all agreed that there will be reconciliation among all major clans in the area and that these reconciliations would not be disrupted anytime in the future. The first Panguna District Reconciliation Consultative Forum in 20 years was hailed a huge success as all speakers emotionally called for reconciliation to take place. During a forum held in the former mining township of Panguna, the people including landowners resolved to immediately start consultations among themselves to have reconciliation ceremonies in the area by the end of this year.

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23/6/08

Mangrove habitat on the south-eastern part of Buka town are gone due to people being desperate for development. A lot of developments have taken place since the Bougainville crisis in the once great mangrove forest. People have developed the area by cutting down the mangroves, backfilled the area with gravel and then built lodges, a service station, commercial buildings, settlements for islanders and private residential areas. Mrs Lynna Justin from Bougainville Teachers College said this while looking around a large portion of the mangrove swamp that was once there and is now gone. This is because the Bougainville Teachers College is located next to the mangrove forest. She sees development taking place all the time. She said that it was heartbreaking to see that although people were desperate for development, they could also be destructive and careless with the fragile environment in their struggle to survive.

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23/6/08

Bougainville’s pioneer President Joseph Kabui was finally laid to rest at his wife’s village Tadorima in the Bana District of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville. Mr Kabui was buried last Friday witnessed by thousands of Bougainvilleans and dignitaries who came from around the country and abroad. The late president was described by many speakers as a humble person and someone who had time for everyone he met. Mr Kabui’s casket arrived at the Aropa airport last Friday in a chartered Solomon Airlines aircraft. His body stayed for two nights in the former Bougwas carried to the former mining township of Panguna where iit stayed for a night.

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13/6/08

Jospeh Kabui made peace with the rest of Papua New Guinea in a moving ceremony in Manus Province early last week. At what has now become the last official conference for the former President of the Autonomous Bougain-ville Government, Mr Kabui officially made peace with PNG in a moving ceremony at the National Governors Council conference in Manus, three days before his death. According to reports from the Manus conference, Mr Kabui’s attendance at the National Governors Conference was the first since Bougainville was granted autonomous status in 2001. “His government was created under a different and unique set of legislations and he was never a member of the National Governors Council,” an insider told the Post-Courier. “However, that changed when he made peace with Sir Julius Chan last month.”

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12/6/08

The Opposition yesterday expressed profound sadness over the sudden death of the President of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville Joseph Kabui. Opposition Leader Sir Mekere Morauta and Deputy Opposition Leader Bart Philemon in a joint statement described the late President as a strong, courageous leader who led from the front in trying and violent times to bring peace and normalcy back to the island of Bougainville. “The people of Bougainville have lost a leader who will be hard to replace. He definitely is a hero and champion of the people,” Sir Mekere said. Mr Philemon said that the condolences pouring in from around the nation as well as overseas highlighted the influence and respect Mr Kabui had enjoyed.

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11/6/08

Joseph Kabui stopped taking his life-saving medicine four months ago because he didn’t have the money to pay for it and felt ashamed to ask for help. “Yu save sister blong mi, mi no man blong askim long samting sapos em I concernim mi,’’ he told me in his last media interview on Friday afternoon immediately after he arrived in Buka from his Manus trip. About 12 hours later, he collapsed from what is believed to have been a massive heart attack and was dead before he could be rushed to the nearby Buka Hospital. Late president Kabui, who could give me an interview at his Gateway because he was either tired or tied up singled out to me from his Gateway room after returning from the Manus Governor’s conference: “ringim mi tomoro (Friday) na bai yumi stori.”

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10/6/08

Bougainville’s first autonomous government president Joseph Kabui is dead after suffering a massive heart attack. Buka General Hospital chief executive officer Dr Cyril Imako confirmed the 54-year-old former seminarian from Siromba in Central Bougainville was already dead in the house before he was brought to the hospital for medication. Dr Imako said Mr Kabui was due for medication last December. He ran out of medicine four months ago and was depending on brand of bottled water reputed to have healing properties. He felt chest pains on the left side a week before he travelled for the Governors’ conference in Manus. He was premier of the province until the conflict started and then became the leading figure in the pro-secessionist Bougainville Interim Government which fought for independence from Papua New Guinea.

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6/6/08

The Autonomous Bougainville Government yesterday gagged an open forum on Buka Island which was planned to discuss the dealings of the government. High on the agenda would have been the recent signing of an agreement between the ABG and Bougainville Development Corporation Ltd. Police in Buka were instructed to apprehend two women leaders at the forum venue, they were brought to the police station and advised to cancel the forum pending the next sitting of the ABG parliament next week. Members of the inter-church womens forum, Monica Samu and Celestine Tomi, said the ABG had ordered the police to stop the forum. The police kept watch as the tents prepared for the forum were pulled down.

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