UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL
Statement by H.E. Mr John Dauth LVO Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Australia to the United Nations on Bougainville
New York 21 November 2002
Mr President
Thank you for holding this meeting on an issue of deep interest to the countries of the Pacific Islands Forum in an open format. It is only appropriate that countries of our region, as contributors to the resolution of the Bougainville conflict, should also be involved in the Security Council's deliberations. We also appreciate the very useful and comprehensive briefing provided by [Ambassador Sinclair]. We thank him and his team for their efforts in difficult circumstances to bring this conflict to a close.
Mr President, Australia strongly supports the continued engagement of the UN Political Office in Bougainville (UNPOB). We are encouraged by progress in Bougainville settlement efforts. As Ambassador Sinclair has outlined, much has been achieved. Nevertheless, a good deal remains to be done before the peace process will be complete. The UN's involvement has been and remains an essential element of the overall process and it will be important that the UN remain engaged well into 2003.
But the UN's presence needs to be genuinely catalytic: it should be a spur to the parties to re-energise and successfully conclude the weapons disposal. The parties must understand that the UN's presence and that of the Peace Monitoring Group (PMG) is of a limited duration. Every effort should be made while they are on the ground to accelerate progress. Under no circumstances should their presence -comforting though it might be -become the cause of delay or of putting back hard decisions. The PMG's presence cannot and should not substitute for committed implementation by the parties of peace and weapons disposal measures.
The recent slow down in weapons disposal and the removal of weapons from containers has been a setback. It risks undermining the confidence the parties and international community have in the peace process. That said, opportunities exist, and must be taken, to re-energise weapons disposal efforts, especially through the UNPOB and the parties urging all ex-combatants to conclude weapons disposal and destruction as soon as possible within 2003. Bougainvillean ex-combatants have identified 24 December 2002 as a target date for the conclusion of Stage II of Weapons disposal. Australia welcomes this decision.
This target date is achievable, but it will require UNPOB, in consultation with the parties, to redouble its efforts to speed up Stage II containment efforts and help bring about the earliest possible declaration that this stage of the weapons disposal process is complete.
The final fate of the weapons (Stage III) is to be taken within four and a half months of the stage II declaration. We assess that unless current rates of progress are lifted substantially, UNPOB will have little prospect of concluding its work until late in 2003. UNPOB has monitoring and verification responsibilities for contained weapons, throughout Stage III. It will be important for the success and integrity of settlement efforts that this process be advanced expeditiously. It will be difficult, if not impossible, for the UN to depart while weapons remain in containers under its lock and key.
The declaration by UNPOB that Stage II has been completed will constitute an important milestone, triggering as it will the constitutional amendments giving force to the autonomy provisions of the Bougainville Peace Agreement. We note that UNPOB has recommended a Bougainville-wide consultative process to determine the general level of security felt in the respective districts. This is a sensible proposal. It would be helpful, however, if this process were undertaken concurrently with Stage II containments.
Mr President
It goes without saying, of course, that the views of the PNG government will also be a factor in the acceptance by all parties of the validity of any stage ii declaration. The UNPOB will need to consult closely and early with the government of PNG that its definition of "substantial Compliance" is accepted by all the parties, including the PNG Government.
Mr President
I should like to conclude by underlining Australia's support for the Bougainville peace process and for UNPOB, including through the PMG. It is precisely because we want to see the process brought to a successful and durable conclusion that we have emphasised the need for a redoubling of efforts to make progress with weapons disposal. This will also enable the other down-stream benefits of peace, not least economic development and autonomy, to begin to make a real and welcome difference to the lives of the people of Bougainville.
Thank you.