Death, lies and confusion

CONFLICTING reports, accusations and death continue to be the hallmarks of the conflict on Papua New Guinea’s troubled island of Bougainville. It is now impossible to know which side the Bougainville Revolutionary Army or the Papua New Guinea government to believe because of the widely varying accounts each side gives of an incident.

With claims and counter claims and accusations of lies from both sides it is difficult to keep track of what is really going on.

This is made worse by the PNG government not allowing journalists free access to all parts of Bougainville. A recent example of these conflicting reports is the BRA refuting a PNG government claim that the BRA had killed 17 civilians at South Bpugainville care centres. The PNG Minister for Bougainville A|lajrs, Michael Ogio, said the BRA had killed the civilians as part of a stepped up campaign of terror. But Radio Free Bougainville says the 17 people killed by the BRA were soldiers of the PNG Defence Force. It says the BRA killed the soldiers and injured 13 others when they raided two Defence Force' camps.

Ogio issued a statement saying some news organisations are thriving on endless stories based on rebel claims of assault, rape, brutality, murder and general destruction allegedly committed by PNG’s security forces. He says his government does not recognise any person or group directly challenging its lawful authority on Bougainville. Ogio says because of this it is illogical for journalists and news organisations to expect the PNG government to respond to various claims.

However the Pacific Island’s News Association has blamed the PNG government for any alleged unfair reporting on the Bougainville conflict, saying Port Moresby’s media restrictions an the island made it difficult for journalists to verify claims from both sides.

The Bougainville Interim government, on the other hand, claims Australia is supplying more weapons, ammunition and other military hardware to PNG. A statement says PNG will use the equipment to arm its expanded Defence Force in preparation for a new offensive against the BRA.

The trouble on Bougainville has spilled across the border into the Solomon islands and strained relations between the two countries. Relations between them cooled following the shooting of two Solomon Islanders by PNG soldiers last September and subsequent illegal border crossings. However moves have begun strengthen ties between the two govern ments. On January 10 PNG Prime Minister Paias Wingti and his Solomon islands counterpart Solomon Mamaloni, an nounced the re-establishment of dialogue between their two countries. A meeting between the foreign ministers of the two countries to discuss the strained relations was to have taken place on January 19 but this was postponed for at least a month.

However in late January there were talks in Port Moresby between a Solomon Islands government delegation and a PNG

government delegation.

Almost daily reports on the Bougainville conflict come from both sides. The Bougainville interim-government claim a number of Bougainvilleans supporting the PNG Defence Force have defected to the BRA. The PNG government say they have to conduct a major emergency food supply operation to government care centres on Bougainville following rebel attacks that have cut off road access to gardens. The BRA say PNG troops stationed at Tunuru and Itakara in Central Bougainville have continued using mortar bombs containing poisonous chemicals in bombarding villages. And so it goes on.

As the conflict between the PNG Defence Force and the BRA continues so does the war of words between the two sides. The question is who do you believe? ***