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The Guardian
29-06-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
A dreadlocked rebel soldier kept me alive in Bougainville 28 years ago. Reuniting with him was an emotional experience
Time dims even the most vivid memory. Like a well-loved family black-and-white album, the memories of my experiences during an assignment in Bougainville in 1996 are dog-eared, worn and have lost clarity. After nearly 30 years the timeline has merged with the jumble of other assignments I undertook in the region (the Sandline crisis and an excursion to West Papua to meet the resistance movement over the border). It feels like a monochrome film with the edits all mixed up. When I visited Bougainville for the first time, the conflict had already been raging for eight years, flaring up and settling down, breaking into factions, cruelty and atrocities, only to flare up again. After Francis Ona, the leader of the Bougainville Republican Army, unilaterally declared independence in May 1990, the Papua New Guinea government imposed a blockade on the island which was enforced using Australian-supplied Iroquois helicopters and Pacific-class patrol boats. We came across graffiti in abandoned classrooms that showed helicopters firing down on people in the jungle. It was a dirty war with numerous reports of abuses against the Indigenous population and combatants. As one survivor of the crisis told me, 'The towns became too dangerous – we just took to the bush and hid.' The blockade meant that everything was in short supply. Bougainville, a group of islands off Papua New Guinea to the north of Australia, has been variously controlled by Britain, Germany, Japan, Australia and PNG. It declared independence in 1975 as the Republic of North Solomons, but was absorbed into the newly independent PNG weeks later. Its close ethnic ties and proximity to the Solomons archipelago means it has always sat uneasily with Port Moresby's rule. That discontent came to a violent head in 1988 after a long-running dispute over the lucrative Panguna copper and gold mine. The mine, carved from a mountain in central Bougainville, was critically important to PNG, at one point generating more than 45% of the country's national export revenue. Multinational Rio Tinto and other international investors earned nearly US$2bn from the mine over 17 years of operation. But less than 1% of the mine's profits went to Bougainvilleans, whose homes and lands had been destroyed by it. Under the leadership of a former mine worker, Francis Ona, disaffected Bougainvilleans ran a sabotage campaign which forced the mine's closure in 1989. The PNG Government responded by sending in police, then soldiers, to restore law and order. Bougainville was blockaded and the island descended into a brutal civil war that ran for a decade, and saw as many as 20,000 people die. PNG later hired international mercenaries to end the conflict (the notorious Sandline affair), before a peace agreement was signed in 2001. In a 2019 referendum, 97.7% of Bougainvilleans voted in favour of independence. Many argue that reopening Panguna mine will be key to the island's economic future as an independent nation. The soldiers I met during that first trip had kept me safe and escorted journalist Lindsay Murdoch and me into the jungle. I had a sense that it was a dangerous assignment, but I had no idea just how dangerous until meeting one of the fighters again. More of that later. The jungle on Bougainville is fast growing and almost cartoonishly dense and green. It had just about reclaimed the entire town of Arawa on the eastern coast of the island. Arawa was a ghost town during the crisis as all the inhabitants had fled to the safety of the hills. It was an old Bougainville Copper Limited company town and now marked the front line with the PNG defence forces occupying what little was left. The prefabricated houses, burnt-out hospital and solar hot water heaters on roofs were all Australian made. It gave the town a strangely familiar feel, like you could have been in a north Queensland coastal town. We had to negotiate with the PNG defence forces to cross into BRA-controlled territory. The road south of town was no man's land and was marked at the outskirts by a heavily sandbagged roadblock and nervous-looking PNG defence force privates. A few miles outside Kieta we pulled over and waited. After some time a rebel patrol materialised out of the thick jungle to escort us. Rommy Joel was a young BRA platoon leader when I first met him. He looked like a rebel from central casting, sporting dreadlock hair beads and holding a captured M16 assault rifle. He also had the kindest eyes – from the outset, I never felt threatened by him. He led us deep into the hills via a circuitous route where we felt we were travelling in circles, which for security purposes we probably were. I distinctly remember the heat and humidity. The thick jungle and constant danger made it feel close and claustrophobic. I was cautioned about what I could take photographs of: nothing that would give away their position, no communications devices, and some of the fighters were off limits. Luckily Rommy was not on the banned list so I concentrated on him. He was such a great subject. We jumped on to the back of an old ex-mine ute to travel further. Rommy sat in the back as we sped along the coastal road. He escorted us almost all the way back to the PNG lines at Arawa. With a casual wave he disappeared into the jungle, and that was the last I saw of him. That is until he drove up from his home in South Bougainville to see us in mid-May 2025. I recognised him straight away – he may have aged, but he had the same kind eyes. When I showed him the old photograph of him in the ute he was annoyed because, as he put it, 'no more Rasta hair'. 'I'm old,' he added. So am I Rommy, so am I. He told me he and his men remembered me because 'you were the whitest man we had ever seen'. He also said that none of his men would accompany him to collect us all those years ago because they thought it was too dangerous, or as he put it, 'the war was very strong at the time'. Even after 30 years it was a sobering fact to learn. My impression at the time was that these were tough boys, hardened by the jungle and the war. If they had thought it too dangerous, it obviously was a lot more risky than I had known at the time. Probably just as well I didn't know. The most poignant moment of our reunion for me, however, was when Rommy introduced us to his young granddaughter Lolo. Rommy was trained as a boilermaker by the mining company before the crisis – he had given up a life of relative comfort and fought in a nasty civil war. He had fought for an independent homeland and future generations, defending his fellow islanders. Here he was all those years later, older and as full of strength and pride as I remembered, and with him, the latest member of his family. This was brought into sharp focus later that day when we attended the reburial of some of his fellow fighters who were exhumed from a mass grave in the north of the island. Time had not dimmed the emotions; the shadow of that conflict was a long one. His fellow BRA Bougainvillians have lost friends and family and years in the jungle. They deserve their independence – I hope for Rommy and Lolo that they get it. I will be forever grateful that he kept me alive all those years ago. Mike Bowers is a photographer and host of Talking Pictures on ABC's Insiders. This project was supported by a grant from the Melbourne Press Club's Michael Gordon Fellowships
AllAfrica
12-06-2025
- Business
- AllAfrica
How China is paving way for Bougainville independence
Bougainville, an autonomous archipelago currently part of Papua New Guinea, is determined to become the world's newest country. To support this process, it's offering foreign investors access to a long-shuttered copper and gold mine. Formerly owned by the Australian company Rio Tinto, the Panguna mine caused displacement and severe environmental damage when it operated between 1972 and 1989. It also sparked a decade-long civil war from 1988 to 1998 that killed an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 civilians and caused enduring traumas and divisions. Industry players believe 5.3 million tonnes of copper and 547 tonnes of gold remain at the site. This is attracting foreign interest, including from China. Australia views Bougainville as strategically important to 'inner security arc.' The main island is about 1,500 kilometers from Queensland's Port Douglas. Given this, the possibility of China's increasing presence in Bougainville raises concerns about shifting allegiances and the potential for Beijing to exert greater influence over the region. Bougainville is a small island group in the South Pacific with a population of about 300,000. It consists of two main islands: Buka in the north and Bougainville Island in the south. Bougainville has a long history of unwanted interference from outsiders, including missionaries, plantation owners and colonial administrations (German, British, Japanese and Australian). Two weeks before Papua New Guinea received its independence from Australia in 1975, Bougainvilleans sought to split away, unilaterally declaring their own independence. This declaration was ignored in both Canberra and Port Moresby, but Bougainville was given a certain degree of autonomy to remain within the new nation of PNG. The opening of the Panguna mine in the 1970s further fractured relations between Australia and Bougainville. Landowners opposed the environmental degradation and limited revenues they received from the mine. The influx of foreign workers from Australia, PNG and China also led to resentment. Violent resistance grew, eventually halting mining operations and expelling almost all foreigners. Under the leadership of Francis Ona, the Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA) fought a long civil war to restore Bougainville to Me'ekamui , or the 'Holy Land' it once was. Australia supported the PNG government's efforts to quell the uprising with military equipment, including weapons and helicopters. After the war ended, Australia helped broker the Bougainville Peace Agreement in 2001. Although aid programs have since begun to heal the rift between Australia and Bougainville, many Bougainvilleans feel Canberra continues to favor PNG's territorial integrity. Bougainville school children display a giant flag of Bougainville during the 2005 celebration of the swearing in of the new assembly for the island. Photo: Lloyd Jones / AAP via The Conversation In 2019, Bougainvilleans voted overwhelmingly for independence in a referendum. Australia's response, however, was ambiguous. Despite a slow and frustrating ratification process, Bougainvilleans remain adamant they will become independent by 2027. As Bougainville President Ishmael Toroama, a former BRA commander, told me in 2024: We are moving forward. And it's the people's vision: independence. I'm saying, no earlier than 2025, no later than 2027. My benchmark is 2026, the first of September. I will declare. No matter what happens. I will declare independence on our republican constitution. Bougainville leaders see the reopening of Panguna mine as key to financing independence. Bougainville Copper Limited, the Rio Tinto subsidiary that once operated the mine, backs this assessment. The Bougainville Autonomous Government has built its own gold refinery and hopes to create its own sovereign wealth fund to support independence. The mine would generate much-needed revenue, infrastructure and jobs for the new nation. But reopening the mine would also require addressing the ongoing environmental and social issues it has caused. These include polluted rivers and water sources, landslides, flooding, chemical waste hazards, the loss of food security, displacement, and damage to sacred sites. The newly built gold refinery in Arawa town. Photo: Anna-Karina Hermkens, Author provided via The Conversation (no reuse) Many of these issues have been exacerbated by years of small-scale alluvial mining by Bougainvilleans themselves, eroding the main road into Panguna. Some also worry reopening the mine could reignite conflict, as landowners are divided about the project. Mismanagement of royalties could also stoke social tensions. Violence related to competition over alluvial mining has already been increasing at the mine. More broadly, Bougainville is faced with widespread corruption and poor governance. The Bougainville government cannot deal with these complex issues on its own. Nor can it finance the infrastructure and development needed to reopen the mine. This is why it's seeking foreign investors. Historically, China has a strong interest in the region. According to Pacific researcher Anna Powles, Chinese efforts to build relationships with Bougainville's political elite have increased over the years. Chinese investors have offered development packages contingent on long-term mining revenues and Bougainville's independence. Bougainville is showing interest. Patrick Nisira, the minister for commerce, trade, industry and economic development, said last year the proposed Chinese infrastructure investment is 'aligning perfectly with Bougainville's nationhood aspirations.' The government has also reportedly made overtures to the United States, offering a military base in Bougainville in return for support reopening the mine. Given American demand for minerals, Bougainville could very well end up in the middle of a battle between China and the US over influence in the new nation, and thus in our region. Looking for gold on the Panguna mine tailings. Photo: Anna-Karina Hermkens via The Conversation There is support in Bougainville for a future without large-scale mining. One minister, Geraldine Paul, has been promoting the islands' booming cocoa industry and fisheries to support an independent Bougainville. The new nation will also need new laws to hold the government accountable and protect the people and culture of Bougainville. As Paul told me in 2024: […]the most important thing is we need to make sure that we invest in our foundation and that's building our family and culture. Everything starts from there. What happens in Bougainville affects Australia and the broader security dynamics in the Indo-Pacific. With September 1 2026 just around the corner, it is time for Australia to intensify its diplomatic and economic relationships with Bougainville to maintain regional stability. Anna-Karina Hermkens is senior lecturer and researcher in anthropology, Macquarie University This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
