Papua New Guinea’s trade minister claims he warned the Indian mining company that was attacked at Panguna on Sunday not to invest in Bougainville.
Armed men are alleged to have entered the Panguna copper mine site and set fire to machinery belonging to Indian company Lloyds Metals & Energy Ltd, whose staff were also reportedly attacked.
After an ensuing shootout in which at least one man was killed, according to PNG media, police have arrested up to several suspects.
Bougainville police chief Francis Tokura said a group of people from Buin in Bougainville’s south invaded the mine site with high-powered weapons.
The attack has met with condemnation from the president of the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG), Ishmael Toroama, who described the attack as “terrorism”.
He said it only strengthened the resolve of his administration and Bougainville’s people to redevelop the mine.
ABG President Ishmael Toroama described the attack as “terrorism”.
Supplied/ Autonomous Bougainville Government
Broadside at Bougainville, Lloyds
PNG’s Trade Minister Richard Maru has been quick to point blame away from the national government.
“I repeatedly advised the management of Lloyds Metals & Energy against investing in Panguna, knowing it was highly volatile due to numerous factions and the environment was not conducive for investment. I feared the very outcome that has now transpired.
“Despite my advice, the company took a decision to invest in Panguna and it must now accept full responsibility for what has happened. They took it upon themselves not to heed National Government advice,” Maru said in a statement.
PNG Trade Minister, Richard Maru.
Fiji Government
Lloyds Metals’ presence in Panguna has drawn some criticism in Bougainville, not least because of Toroama’s role in signing up with them, while a number of complex issues in relation to the mine and landowner communities.
RNZ Pacific has reached out to Lloyds for comment.
‘Some say yes, some say no’
A principal landowner from Panguna, Moses Pipiro, said there were a range of views on whether mining should proceed and also on support for Lloyds.
“Some say no, some say yes,” he said, adding that as long as the legal process is followed, then a workable agreement could be reached.
“Both of us, we can come together and we can make a decision, and based on that, we can come with a better solution.”
Pipiro said the violence was a big concern for local people who want peace, noting that outsiders were involved in the attack, which needed thorough investigation.
“Today (Tuesday) I called to them to sign a ceasefire, we come to bring peace and unity, and then we investigate how the problem is happenbing,” he said.
A small settlement has been built at the bottom of the Panguna mine.
ABC News / Natalie Whiting
Landowner consultations
Pipiro claimed the ABG had failed to adequately consult all relevant landowners about Lloyds, a claim which local government representatives have previously rejected.
PNG prime minister James Marape said his discussions with Toroama gave him confidence that the Bougainville government was consulting landowners and local communities over efforts to redevelop the large mine
“I have been advised that his government is looking at structuring Panguna in a manner that involves the landowners, the people of the immediate mine-affected areas and
the wider Bougainville community,” he said in a statement.
“The President understands that Panguna cannot simply be treated as another mining project. There are historical and legacy issues. There are environmental issues. There are landowner issues. These must be treated with great sensitivity.”
Setback
The attack is a setback for Bougainville, not just because it hurts efforts to become economically self-reliant while PNG’s parliament considers whether to ratify the overwhelming vote for independence by Bougainvilleans in 2019
But the attack also underlines the presence of high-powered weapons in Bougainville, highlighting that the disposal of weapons – as required under the Bougainville Peace Agreement – is incomplete and progress on it undermined.
Although the ABG has reassured investors that the attack was an ‘isolated’ incident and that safety of the companies working in Bougainville remained a high priority, the position of Lloyds in the autonomous PNG region is more tenuous than before.
Since it began working in Bougainville in the past year, questions over whether due process was followed in the ABG engaging Lloyds have grown.
Concerns that anger over the Indian company’s involvement could erupt into violence have unfortunately come to pass.
