Bougainville President Ishmael Toroama lashes Richard Marles’s ‘veiled threats’ on region’s future
Bougainville’s president has accused Richard Marles of ‘intimidation’ after the Defence Minister backed PNG’s right to choose the autonomous region’s future.
Bougainville President Ishmael Toroama has accused Richard Marles of “veiled threats” and “intimidation” after the Defence Minister threw his support behind Papua New Guinea’s right to choose the autonomous region’s future.
A furious Mr Toroama said Mr Marles had shown Australia was not an impartial player in implementing the 2001 Bougainville Peace Agreement that ended the region’s decade-long war with PNG.
“What we are witnessing right now is simply history repeating itself where the Australian Government throws its support behind the Government of Papua New Guinea to destabilise, yet again, Bougainville’s right to self-determination,” the Autonomous Bougainville President said in a statement.
“I assure the governments of PNG and Australia that my government and my people do not take kindly to threats and we will never kowtow to neo-colonists that seek to usurp the sovereignty of Pacific island nations with their bullying tactics and intimidation.”
It’s understood an emergency cabinet meeting has been called by the Autonomous Bougainville Government to discuss Mr Marles’ comments, and their ramifications for Bougainville’s independence aspirations.
Mr Toroama, whose people voted overwhelmingly three years ago to break away from PNG, said it was “clear now why our requests for resources and assistance” from Australia to prepare for independence “have been ignored”.
“We have remained passive recipients of piecemeal contributions and boomerang aid from the Australian Government but Mr Marles sentiments have now shown Australia’s true intentions for Bougainville,” he said.
Mr Toroama said Australia’s concerns about Chinese threats to regional security were “a moot point” compared to the will of 97.7 per cent of Bougainvilleans who voted for independence in the autonomous region’s 2019 referendum.
“Geopolitics is the least of our reasons to become an independent sovereign nation. Our desire for independence is based on the marginalisation we as a people have received at the hands of the PNG and Australian governments for more than half a century,” he said.
The ABG President‘s comments follow those of Mr Marles in Port Moresby on Thursday where he declared Australia’s backing for PNG to decide if Bougainville becomes independent and offered unprecedented military support to meet PNG’s “capability gaps”.
“Our job is to support Papua New Guinea in the decisions that it makes,” Mr Marles said.
“It is absolutely not our role to articulate views there. Our role is to support the Prime Minister and the Government of Papua New Guinea, in the decisions that it makes in respect of the future of Bougainville, and we stand ready to do that.”
Mr Marles’ office issued a clarification late on Saturday to saying “there has been no change to our long-standing policy on Bougainville”.
“Australia’s role is to support the peace process and decisions around future arrangements which the parties have to negotiate,” the statement said.
“Australia will support whatever political settlement is agreed to by the parties. It is not Australia’s role to articulate views about those arrangements.”
Mr Toroama pointed to Australia’s own role in the 1988-1998 Bougainville conflict, saying Mr Marles’ comments on Thursday were a clear departure from Australia’s position of neutrality on Bougainville’s future since the peace agreement.
“This is the very first time it has come out clear, without much surprise to us, to support the Government of Papua New Guinea on the issue of Bougainville’s independence aspirations,” he said.
“I would like to remind the Australian Government that it was they who instigated the Bougainville Crisis through their involvement with Rio Tinto when they suppressed the rights of the people of Bougainville.
“It was the Australian Government who trained and armed the Papua New Guinea Defence to wage war on the citizens of Bougainville and it was they who supplied gun ships to wreck havoc and mayhem on Bougainville.
“The statements by the Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles are in my view veiled threats being issued to the Government and people of Bougainville as he boasts about the military co-operation between the two countries.”
Mr Toroama said the Bougainville Peace Agreement “spells out a process of healing and a way forward” based on Melanesian traditions and cultures.
“This is not something I believe the Australian Government would have an understanding of,” he said.
“Mr Marles offers a very clear indication that Australia as a signatory of the Bougainville Peace Agreement will no longer remain impartial in implementing the provisions of the agreement.”
The 2019 Bougainville referendum result must still be ratified by PNG’s parliament to take effect.
PNG has been reluctant to grant Bougainville’s independence amid fears it could encourage other provinces to break away, while Australia is concerned it could destabilise the region and require massive additional aid.
Mr Marles’ offer of fresh defence support will likely see fresh Australian investment to deliver an aviation capability to the PNG Defence Force.
The support is potentially sensitive after Australian-donated helicopters were fitted with machine guns by the PNGDF and used to kill rebel fighters during the Bougainville conflict.
Mr Toroama wants independence by 2025, but under an agreement with the national government, an outcome could be delayed until 2027.
In a 2019 report for the Lowy Institute, writer Ben Bohane warned a refusal to ratify the referendum could lead to a second unilateral declaration of independence, requiring the deployment of another regional peacekeeping force.
He warned some Pacific countries, and potentially China, could back such a declaration, sparking a regional crisis.
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