Third Black Cat porter dies in hospital

By MALUM NALU

 

Veteran Black Cat Trail porter Lionel Aigilo died on Sunday night after five days of excruciating agony at Angau Memorial Hospital in Lae without proper medical care and treatment.

He is the third to die after a gang killed two local porters, injured several others and attacked eight expatriate trekkers along the Black Cat Trail last Tuesday.

Lionel Aigilo along the Francisco Rover during a fact-finding trek of the Black Cat Trail in July 2003.

Aigilo, from Logui village in Salamaua, had both legs badly slashed and was awaiting amputation when he died.

He had been an active guide and porter along the Black Cat Trail since 2003 when trekking companies started operating there.

Both overseas and Papua New Guinea media reported last week of the shortage of medical staff and operating theatres at Angau to cater for the eight Black Cat Trail porters, and on the eve of independence, Aigilo sadly passed away.

EMTV last week showed footage of the badly injured porters lying on the floor because of no beds and awaiting operations that never eventuated.

Black Cat Trail Association chairman, Ninga Yawa, said yesterday that it took the death of Aigilo to spur operator, PNG Trekking Adventures, into action as the seven remaining survivors were moved to Lae International Hospital.

He said it was a sad indictment of both government and tour operators at the time of independence.

“Lionel and the other porters were in hospital for almost a week, however, the treatment given to them was not good,” Yawa said.

“I wanted PNG Trekking to put them in a good hospital, as they worked hard to make money for the company, but it was only this (yesterday) morning, after the death of Lionel, that they were moved to Lae International Hospital.

“The government has to look into this matter very seriously.

“We need some assistance from the government, especially when it comes to relatives, haus krais.

“The Prime Minister said he would take care of everything, however, if the porters are not treated, they will die one by one.

‘The PNG Tourism Promotion Authority also has to come in, as these porters worked very hard to bring into tourism money into the country.”

Yawa said the events of last week had been very stressful on everyone involved.

“These have taken their toll on all of us,’ he said.

Four of six Black Cat trek attackers captured in Papua New Guinea

Simon Black 

The Daily Telegraph 

September 15, 2013

FOUR of the six men who attacked an Australian trekking party in Papua New Guinea have been captured and a man suspected of harbouring the criminals has been killed in a retribution attack.

PNG police officers and local villagers have been scouring the jungle around the Black Cat trail since September 10 after a group of eight trekkers were attacked by six armed men.
Two of the group's porters were hacked to death and eight were potentially crippled during a frenzied attack which lasted more than half an hour and was described as "pure butchery".
"I believe it is only a matter of time before the other two are captured and brought in," PNG Commissioner of Police Toami Kulunga said.

Constable Jason Wangud of the Airborn Tactical Unit patrols the jungle around the Black Cat track with an M203 Automatic Rifle. Picture: Luke Marsden.

Com Kulunga also confirmed a man, who was believed to be harbouring the bandits, had been hacked to death by the family of one of the murdered porters.
He said relatives of murdered porter Matthew Gibob had accused the man of harbouring the six criminals and attacked him - striking him to the head and back with a machete in a retribution style attack.
Police intervened and flew him to the nearest health centre but he died from loss of blood.
"There will be an investigation and the persons responsible for this recent death will be arrested. No-one has the right to take anyone's life," Commissioner Kulunga said.
"While I encourage the local community to continue to assist police capture the remaining attackers I urge you not to take the law into you own hands.
"Let the law deal with them."
One of the suspect was caught in Salamaua while the other three were caught in Wau.
While two of the men involved in the attack remain at large Com Kulunga said some 30 police personnel from Morobe Province will soon arrive in the area to pursue the remaining fugitives.

Liba Naris, 22, was one of the porters attacked by machete-wielding bandits on the Black Cat trail in Papua New Guinea. Picture: Luke Marsden Source: News Limited

Commissioner Kulunga has personally flown to Lae, Morobe Province to supervise the hunt.
"While the attack has done a lot of damage to the country in general and to some sections of the local Wau-Bulolo economy which depends on trekkers, we must not forget the dedication, commitment, loyalty and professionalism of all Papua New Guineans involved, including the local porters who defended the trekkers with their lives and the police in the initial response and rescue operations.

Trek leader, Australian woman Christi King Source: Supplied

"The commitment of the villagers in helping police bring in the four suspects speaks volumes for our people's genuineness and hospitality as well. The attack was an isolated and one-off incident and not a reflection of the generally friendly people of the Morobe Province."

Momis: government not committed to Bougainville peace agreement

By MALUM NALU

 

The national government does not seem to be committed to the Bougainville Peace Agreement (BPA), according to Autonomous Region of Bougainville president, John Momis.

Speaking at a sustainability of Bougainville seminar at the Gateway Hotel on Thursday, Momis said the BPA was an agreement between the people of Bougainville and the government of PNG, and should be respected.

Autonomous Region of Bougainville president, John Momis

“So far, we have experienced that the national government doesn’t seem to be committed to the Bougainville Peace Agreement,” he said.

“I, as the leader of Bougainville, believe that the people of Bougainville deserve to have a real choice between two comparably attractive options, namely, full autonomy and independence.

“If autonomy is perceived as not comparable with independence, then the people have no choice.

“It is crucially important at this juncture, when Bougainville stands at the threshold of a new socio-economic order, that the partnership between the national government and the government of Bougainville must be at a level of total commitment and governments working to achieve a common outcome mutually beneficial to both parties.

‘It is difficult for a government which does not have the capacity.

‘Although we do not want to rest on our laurels, before the crisis, Bougainville had the best administration, Bougainville had the best provincial government, and I know because I was the minister for decentralisation.

“We don’t want to rest on our laurels but we want to make a point that when we are expected to do things as if we were, or in a similar situation as other provinces, I think it is a mistake to expect us to carry out huge responsibilities with meager resources, with a bureaucracy that does not have the capacity, and dealing with a government that does not seem to be committed to the principles of collaboration and partnership.”

“As well all know, Bougainville and Papua New Guinea must commit themselves to the Bougainville Peace Agreement.

“It cost us many lives, and it cost us time and money to reach this agreement, and we must be committed to ensuring that the outcomes are achieved according to the spirit of the Bougainville Peace Agreement.”

Momis said Bougainville was in a situation where it was required to deliver services to reconstruct and to deliver a new system of government.

“It is not easy when we don’t have adequate funding,” he said.

“Unlike other provinces, we are coming out of the ashes of war, dealing with a society that is highly-divided, which has fallen from being the premier province to Papua New Guinea, to now being at the bottom of the rung of society.

“So we certainly urge the national government and our own people to work in strict adherence to the spirit of the Bougainville Peace Agreement.”

The tragedy of war on Bougainville

By MALUM NALU

They once were on opposite ends of the spectrum, fighting each other in a bloody, decade-long civil war that took away the lives of thousands of people, but on Thursday, former Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA) commander James Tanis and former Resistance Forces commander Sam Akoitai pledged to work together for peace and autonomy on Bougainville.

Akoitai, Tanis, and constitutional lawyer and Bougainville expert, Anthony Regan, fielding questions at the seminar.-Nationalpics by MALUM NALU

In moving presentations at a sustainability of Bougainville seminar at the Gateway Hotel, former guerilla fighter turned Phd student Tanis, and former politician Akoitai, said they were both for a better future for Bougainville.

Former Bougainville president Tanis spoke out how the experience of war had changed him, while former Central Bougainville MP and government minister Akoitai, told of the wisdom of late Premier Theodore Miriung, who was assassinated in 1996.

Vice-minister for inter-government relations Joseph Sungi, Tanis and Akoitai in discussion at the seminar.

“Sam Akoitai and I come from two extremes,” Tanis, now 48 and studying for a PhD, said.

“I was from the Bougainville Revolutionary Army and Sam was from the Resistance Forces, the two military groups that fought each other.

“It took us a lot of pain, a lot of misunderstanding, a lot of thumping of tables, a lot of deadlocks, a lot of walking away from negotiations, and a lot of deaths to make us come this far.”

Tanis said his story was a story of all Bougainvilleans and all Papua New Guineans.

“I entered the Bougainville Revolutionary Army not knowing about politics, not knowing about what independence was all about, not knowing much about referendum,” he recalled.

“The idea I had as a young fighter was that independence was about guerilla armies overthrowing governments, raising flags, making declarations, and entering the ‘promised land’ after that.

“I listened to my leaders, followed their orders and believed in them, but it took me a lot of painful experiences, a few more years, to learn one thing: independence is not all about guerilla armies destroying governments, taking over territories, and making new declarations.

“As the Bouganville conflict moved on, a lot of us started thinking, ‘there’s a better way for us to move forward’.”

Akoitai told of the wisdom of Miriung, when he told him, ‘Sam, you will never make peace when you talk to friends, you only make peace when you talk to your enemies’.

“That was the opening for me to start talking to (BRA leaders) James Tanis, Ishmael Toroama, Steven Topesi, and many others,” he said.

“That was the turning point for me to go into politics.

“It was not easy for the leaders and people of Bougainville, and also the national government, to arrive at what we now see as the Bougainville Peace Agreement.

“These past experiences should be our lesson to make sure that what Bougainville has gone through should never be repeated.”

Expert: Bougainville referendum must be held between 2015-2020

By MALUM NALU

Constitutional lawyer and Bougainville expert, Anthony Regan, says no definite date has been set for a referendum on independence for Bougainville.

However, a referendum must be held in the five-year period from 2015-2020 as per the Bougainville Peace Agreement (BPA), he told a Bougainville seminar at the Gateway Hotel on Thursday.

Regan said there seemed to be a “lot of loss of memory” because of the high turnover on politicians and public servants in Papua New Guinea, and to a lesser extent on Bougainville.

“When it comes to things like the referendum, you have people saying the referendum’s going to be held in 2015 or 2016,” he said.

“Sorry, it’s probably not!

“It’s going to be held whenever Bougainville and the national government agree it’s going to be between 2015 and 2020.

“In addition, we have a lot of people on Bougainville who say the national government can stop the referendum if it’s not satisfied with weapons disposal, good governance.

“Sorry, the national government can’t!

“What the agreement says is that the period when the referendum must be held, which is five years from 2015, the date will be set taking into account weapons disposal and good governance.

“But it can’t go beyond 2020!

“No matter how bad weapons disposal is, no matter how bad good governance is, it can’t be delayed beyond 2020.”

The two-day seminar, with theme ‘Sustainability of Bougainville’, is organised by the Port Moresby Bougainville Association and continues today.

Generating economic revenue for the future was yesterday’s focus.