Johnny
Blades RNZ Pacific senior journalist
Papua New
Guinea’s trade minister claims he warned the Indian mining
company that was attacked at Panguna on Sunday not to invest
in Bougainville.
Armed men are alleged to have entered
the Panguna copper mine site and set
fire to machinery belonging to Indian company Lloyds
Metals & Energy Ltd, whose staff were also reportedly
attacked.
After an ensuing shootout in which at least
one man was killed, according to PNG media, police have
arrested up to several suspects.
Bougainville police
chief Francis Tokura said a group of people from Buin in
Bougainville’s south were involved with the invasion of the
mine site and the use of high-powered weapons.
The
attack has met
with condemnation from the president of the Autonomous
Bougainville Government (ABG), Ishmael Toroama, who
described the attack as “terrorism”.
He said it only
strengthened the resolve of his administration and
Bougainville’s people to redevelop the
mine.
Broadside at Bougainville, Lloyds
PNG’s
Trade Minister Richard Maru has been quick to point blame
away from the national government.
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“I repeatedly
advised the management of Lloyds Metals & Energy against
investing in Panguna, knowing it was highly volatile due to
numerous factions and the environment was not conducive for
investment. I feared the very outcome that has now
transpired.
“Despite my advice, the company took a
decision to invest in Panguna and it must now accept full
responsibility for what has happened. They took it upon
themselves not to heed National Government advice,” Maru
said in a statement.
Lloyds Metals’ presence in
Panguna has drawn some criticism in Bougainville, not least
because of Toroama’s role in signing up with them, while a
number of complex issues in relation to the mine and
landowner communities.
RNZ Pacific has reached out to
Lloyds for comment.
‘Some say yes, some say
no’
A principal landowner from Panguna, Moses Pipiro,
said there were a range of views on whether mining should
proceed and also on support for Lloyds.
“Some say no,
some say yes,” he said, adding that as long as the legal
process is followed, then a workable agreement could be
reached.
“Both of us, we can come together and we can
make a decision, and based on that, we can come with a
better solution.”
Pipiro said the violence was a big
concern for local people who want peace, noting that
outsiders were involved in the attack, which needed thorough
investigation.
“Today (Tuesday) I called to them to
sign a ceasefire, we come to bring peace and unity, and then
we investigate how the problem is happening,” he
said.
Landowner consultations
Pipiro claimed
the ABG had failed to adequately consult all relevant
landowners about Lloyds, a claim which local government
representatives have previously rejected.
PNG prime
minister James Marape said his discussions with Toroama gave
him confidence that the Bougainville government was
consulting landowners and local communities over efforts to
redevelop the large mine
“I have been advised that his
government is looking at structuring Panguna in a manner
that involves the landowners, the people of the immediate
mine-affected areas and the wider Bougainville community,”
he said in a statement.
“The President understands
that Panguna cannot simply be treated as another mining
project. There are historical and legacy issues. There are
environmental issues. There are landowner issues. These must
be treated with great
sensitivity.”
Setback
The attack is a setback
for Bougainville, not just because it hurts efforts to
become economically self-reliant while PNG’s parliament
considers whether to ratify the overwhelming vote for
independence by Bougainvilleans in 2019.
But the
attack also underlines the presence of high-powered weapons
in Bougainville, highlighting that the disposal of weapons –
as required under the Bougainville Peace Agreement – is
incomplete and progress on it undermined.
Although the
ABG has reassured investors that the attack was an
‘isolated’ incident and that safety of the companies working
in Bougainville remained a high priority, the position of
Lloyds in the autonomous PNG region is more tenuous than
before.
Since it began working in Bougainville in the
past year, questions over whether due process was followed
in how ABG engaged Lloyds to work at Panguna have
grown.
Concerns that anger over the Indian company’s
involvement could erupt into violence have unfortunately
come to
pass.
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