Diary of a rebellion
pp. 16-17 · Read in the full issue
1988 22 November: Three masked men steal 228 pieces of dynamite, grenades and detonators from Panguna mine explo sives magazine; Bougainville Copper Ltd offers a K 10,000 reward for informa tion; phone threats to blow up mine in stallations. 29 November: Police reinforcements guard Panguna mine; CRA threatens to pull out of Papua New Guinea because of “acts of terrorism”, 2 December: Arsonists destroy a donga (single workers accommodation block) at the company’s Camp 6 at Loloho; more explosives stolen from the Maneti quarry magazine. 4 December: Power pylon blown up at Policeman’s Corner on Panguna mine road. 6 December: Mine shuts down after saboteurs blow up second pylon at Waterfall Corner. Prime Minister Rabbie Namaliu warns over “Rambo-style ter rorism”. 7 December: Police Commissioner Paul Tohian gives “shoot to kill” order against saboteurs. 9 December: Deputy Prime Minister Akoka Doi and government trouble shooters hold talks with militant leader Francis Ona and 35 others at Guava vil lage; landowners agree to end sabotage; mine reopens. 1989 24 January: Ona sends a “no surren der” message along with four sticks of dynamite to Premier Joe Kabui. 7 February: Justice Minister Bernard Narokobi rules out amnesty for Ona. 20 March: More than 1000 non-
Bougainvilleans rampage through Toni
va, near Kieta, as “payback” for the mur der of two West Highlanders and
wounding of three others in Aropa Plantation. 22 March: Aropa Airport terminal and an aircraft burnt out; police and rebels exchange gunfire, killing one Bougain villean; PNG Defence Force troops ar rive to help police restore law and order and to defend mine installations. 28 March: National governments bans diplomats and journalists from North Solomons province. 27 April: Two PNG Defence Force sol diers and rebel landowners killed in gun battle at Orami. 1 May: “Please stay firm because I will surrender only in a coffin,” says Ona in a hand-written letter sent to Perpetua Serero, chairperson of the Panguna Landowners Associaton. 15 May: Panguna mine shut down again after a series of attacks by militants on company employees and properties two employees shot with arrows. 23 May: Kabui reveals death threats have been made againt him and several other prominent Bougainville leaders; eight BCL employees wounded; another
pylon sabotaged.
25 May: National government guaran tees Ona and rebels immunity from pro secution in an attempt to put an end to the crisis. 1 June: Mediator Bishop Gregory Sing kai meets Ona in a jungle hideout and talks for four hours then flies to Port Moresby to meet Namaliu. 20 June: Australian John Price, an
agricultural adviser suspected of helping
the Panguna militants, is beaten up by Defence Force soldiers. His boss, Bob Bolton, is threatened with a gun. 22 June: Namaliu announces State of Emergency; joint security forces beefed up from 600 to 2000. 27 June: Security forces raid and burn down entire village of Siderons, believed to be a militant stronghold, and arrest 50 villagers. 3 July: Premier Joe Kabui and provin
cial Primary Industry Minister Michael Laimo beaten up by riot squad police; Laimo loses an eye after being jabbed in the face by gun barrels. 7 July: Troops capture strategic ford- Tied ridge near Guava village; discover a military-style trench and bunker system stretching from the village to the ridge. 18 July: Ambrose Leo, a younger brother of Francis Ona, shot dead by security forces between Guava and
Kupei villages.
7 September: Mine reopens again after being closed for 16 weeks; militants ambush two BCL buses carrying workers; mine shuts again after being open
only eight hours.
12 September; Provincial Commerce Minister John Bika shot dead by masked rebel gunmen at his Toboroi village home. 14 September: Minister of State Ted Diro offers a K 200,000 “dead or alive” reward for Ona; authorises security forces to plant booby traps around
pylons.
18 September: Soldier blows himself up
while planting a landmine; an 18-year old villager is wounded by another land mine. 22 September: A special Royal Austra- Han Air Force Cl3o aircraft flies in 16 tonnes of emergency tents for villages evacuated during the Bougainville crisis, 3 October: Two more New Zealanders leave, taking the total of evacuees to 13 in two weeks following incidents of har rassment and death threat by both mili tants and soldiers; one New Zealander fired at by a drunken soldier protest lodged with the military; a second sol dier is killed while setting a booby trap, this time in Kongara, rugged limestone country south of the mine. 4 October: Militants shoot dead four mainland squatters in an attack on a bushcamp near Arawa; in a “payback” other squatters raid the nearby home of
a Bougainville family, killing an elderly
woman and a 12-year-old girl, 5 October: Namaliu makes an emotion al radio plea for peace, saying the mili tants do not represent the majority of
Bougainvilleans. □
Down: blown power pylon