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PNG's Australian mercenaries?
Four Australian military helicop
ters in Bougainville, Papua New
Guinea, are being used in the brutal
military campaign against the seces-
sionist movement led by Francis Ona.
The Australian government says the
helicopter crews are civilian. If so,
they are civilians paid to work in a
combat area -mercenaries, or military
out of uniform.
The Australian government says the
helicopters will not be used in combat.
But since they will ferry troops and
retrieve wounded, they are bound to
come under fire. And it is likely that
weapons on board will be used to fire
back.
Francis Ona's guerrilla army is firmly
based on indigenous relations with clan
land, the sharp sense of spiritual and
ecological destruction and exploitation
caused by the massive Panguna mine.
Ona's people have a bitter sense of
betrayal by the PNG government.
Like the police and military, his
fighters will commit atrocities, but that
is not the cause of this conflict.
The sabotage of the giant Bougainville
Copper mine earlier this year was caused
by the breakdown in negotiations be
tween the aggrieved traditional land
owners, the PNG government and the
company. If renewed negotiations after
the initial bombings had been taken
seriously by the PNG government, then
the current war could have been averted.
But the imposition first of heavy
police forces on Bougainville, and then
the military, ruled out a political solution
to a well known political problem. The
premier of the provincial government
was bashed by police. At this point, the
demand for secession became a major
new factor in the crisis.
The PNG military are now conducting
search-and-destroy operations against
guerrilla fighters who have broad
popular support. They have burnt at leasi
three villages and moved 25,000 people.
As in the Vietnam War, this may lead to
a war against the entire population, an
unjust, and in the end unwinnable war.
So far, there has been little protest
against the sending of the helicopters.
Many Australians see PNG as Australian
territory'; and it was a colony of
Australia until 1975. This should not be
allowed to blind public opinion to our in
volvement.
Bougainville Copper has been a high
ly profitable venture for Australian-
based mining giant, CRA, itself part of
the British mining giant, RTZ. This war
is ultimately to defend CRA's profits and
45% of PNG's foreign earnings, as well
as the future profits of mining ventures
underway or planned.
The outcome for the PNG government
is important as it will set a precedent for
all of PNG, not only in terms of relations
with foreign companies but also in main
taining 'national unity'. No life should
be destroyed in this cause.
New Right voices, such as Professor
Geoffrey Blainey, argue that Australia's
national security is involved. If Australia
does not help put down the Bougainville
rebellion, then Indonesia or some other
country would be asked, he says.
However, Australian troops would be
just as unwelcome and oppressive as In
donesian or any other foreign troops, or
as the PNG military are; and just as des
tabilising for the entire region.
Australia has considerable political
and economic influence in PNG, not
only through the government's
economic aid, but through private com
panies, educational institutions, and the
churches.
The only involvement by the
Australian government should be to
counsel the PNG government against a
military solution. All progressives are
urged to express their moral objections
to any other kind of involvement, and to
pressure the Australian government to
take this direction. ®
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