In support of Bougainville

The Region

WHILE the Solomon Islands government and the country’s Opposition Party have been opposed on many issues in recent months, they agree on one thing Bougainville Last month, the Solomon cabinet rejected a proposed extradition treaty put to it by Papua New Guinea which would require the governments of both rn„nfries nrresf members nf the countries to anest members ol the Bougainville Revolutionary Army in the c , 5 T i , . 7 , ' . , .

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Cabinet threw out the proposed treaty because they say the Solomons have had an extradition act since 1987, and there is no need for another one.

According to one Solomon Islands ministei, Appioxing the treat) would Rn „■ ui" brothers from

Bougainville.

Opposition leader Joses Tuhanuku feels the same way. .

In an interview with Pacific Islands Monthly Tuhanuku said Bougainvilleans were culturally and geographically Sol-

omon Islanders.

He said he would not go along with human rights violations on the island, and would help Bougainvilleans if they needed food or medicine.

However, Tuhanuku was quick to point out that, while many Bougainvilleans who arrived in the Solomons were in genuine need of help, there also were some bad elements. Some of these had been sent to jail in the Solomons.

He added that if Bougainville wanted to be independent from PNG, they should be allowed to.

“All these boundaries were drawn up by the colonial powers without our consent anyway,” Tuhanuku said.

Last month a former Solomon Island MP suggested that Australia, New Zea land and the Melanesian Spearhead Group urge PNG and France to grant independence to Bougainville and New Caledonia.

Sethuel Kelly said it is a known fact that Bougainville is geographically and

culturally not part of PNG, and that the island’s inclusion in the political control of PNG was the work of colonial powers.

Meanwhile, in a speech to the Sol omon Parliament in November, oppo sition foreign affairs spokesman Francis Saemala warned that the Solomon Islands’ own peace and security could be threatened by events in Indonesia and

Png.

Recently the Solomons and PNG have been in a war of words over territorial boundaries. The Solomon Islands MP for Shortlands, Albert Laore, maintains that a PNG patrol boat intruded into Sol omon territorial waters despite denials by the Port Moresby government.

Laore said last month the boat alleg edly crossed the maritime border and seized petrol, an outboard motor, spare parts and tools from three people resting on Maofu island, on the Solomon side of the border. However, PNG has strongly denied violating the Solomons territorial boundaries, and instead accused the Solomon islands of smuggling goods into Bougainville to sell them at exorbitant

prices.

Laore says this is not the first time a PNG patrol boat has entered the Sol omons without permission, and he says men, women and children have been harassed by crew members. □