Asia Times: Bougainville rebels threaten to quit peace process



	May 01, 1999	atimes.com

Oceania

Bougainville rebels threaten to quit peace process

PORT MORESBY - The Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA), which is seeking autonomy for the Papua New Guinea island, is threatening to pull out of the peace process, according to an unconfirmed statement by a senior BRA officer.

The threat comes on the first anniversary of the ceasefire on the war-torn island.

An unsigned media statement supposedly released from BRAofficer Robinson Asitau last night said the BRA disassociateditself from the Matakana and Okataina Understanding signed byPNG and Bougainville leaders in Rotorua, New Zealand, last week.

According to the PNG government's special state negotiatoron Bougainville, Sir John Kaputin, the Understanding sets outa process for the discussion of the political future ofBougainville for the first time since the secessionist crisison the island began 10 years ago.

But Asitau, who is the secretary to BRA leader SamKauona, said in the statement that the Understandingundermined the powers of the people of Bougainville and gavemore negotiating powers to the PNG government.''The Bougainville Revolutionary Army is not asignatory and disassociates itself from the recently signedMatakana and Okataina Understanding, indicated as signed inNew Zealand at Lake Okataina on 22 April, 1999,'' Asitau'sstatement said.

It also said the BRA ''threatens to pull out of the peaceprocess'' and that ''Bougainville leaders have sold out to PapuaNew Guinea."

Asitau said the Understanding was ''clearly not binding,incomplete, uncertain, ineffectual without the signatures ofthe BRA.'' He said that some of the problems of theUnderstanding included:

* The disposal of arms by the warring parties was nolonger linked to the withdrawal of PNG security forces fromBougainville;

* United Nations supervision of arms disposal had beenremoved and given to New Zealand, which undermined the role ofthe United Nations and the other members of the PeaceMonitoring Group;

* The power of the people to negotiate through theBougainville Constituent Assembly had been taken away andgiven to PNG's state negotiator and four Bougainvillean MPs inthe national parliament; and

* The rehabilitation and development of Bougainville wouldbe in the hands of the PNG government, the performance ofwhich has been ''less than satisfactory'' in thepast.

Asitau said the BRA would not hand in its arms withoutthe withdrawal of PNG security forces from Bougainville soil. Efforts to contact Asitau and other BRA leaders were unsuccessful.

(Asia Pulse)