'In Suva, the embarrassment of the Fiji Government was acute. It disassociated itself from the eight who apparently got into Papua New Guinea as tourists, or by posing as church workers...'


The ingredients in the pot are a spicy concoction. But is it a recipe for a regional crisis, as some sectors of the media would have it? Hardly. Just another of those lurid tales that from time to time colour the affairs of the South Pacific.

The ingredients are Bougainville, an island struggling to recover from an ugly small war; the Mickey Mouse Kingdom of Me'ekamui; an outrageous crook who should have been locked up a long time ago; a former rock band drummer and self-styled prime minister; and eight Fijians apparently bent on recovering “investments” from the crook, but being labelled as “mercenaries.”

It wasn't by any means a “regional crisis,” just a bad embarrassment for the Fiji government and a serious irritation for the Papua New Guinea government and the newly established but not yet firmly rooted autonomous Bougainville provincial government.

Me'ekamui is the name of a “no go” area of Bougainville, controlled until his death last July, of Francis Ona, the secessionist leader, who rejected a peace agreement by which the Papua New Guinea government and Bougainville Revolutionary Army ended a war for the island's independence.

He retreated to his mountain headquarters and announced that a large area around it was the Kingdom of Me'ekamui, with himself as king, and neither Bougainville, PNG nor other visitors were welcome to it.

“King” Francis evidently became unbalanced, although harmlessly so. Bougainville and PNG hoped he'd eventually fade away so that his kingdom could peacefully incorporate with the remainder of the island. His unexpected death from malaria heightened that expectation.

But the king became surrounded by doubtful characters, two of them being dubious white men, “Prince” Jeffrey of Australia and “Lord” James of London.

A third was the definitely dubious Noah Musinghu, wanted by the police in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands for pyramid scheme frauds. He got himself proclaimed as His Royal Highness Prince David Benjamin Noah Papala Hokong.

Musinghu, often seen in company of the Australians, opened an office he passed off as the Bank of Me'ekamui. He persuaded trusting Bougainvilleans to deposit a lot of money-probably millions of kina-with him by promising them huge interest rate earnings.
Clients, who later tried to withdraw money from their “accounts” were disappointed.

Musinghu's money collecting scheme also embroiled trusting Fijians. They entrusted money to an outfit trading as U-Vistract.When the presence of the Fijians in Bougainville became known, there were conflicting reports about the reason for it; they had been hired by Musinghu as bodyguards, hired to train Me'ekamui followers how to use firearms; hired as security “consultants”.

In Fiji, the military said most of the eight were former members of a counter revolutionary unit disbanded after its participation in a violent 2000 army mutiny. There was speculation that Musinghu wanted to train an army capable of capturing Bougainville.

In Suva, the embarrassment of the Fiji Government was acute. It disassociated itself from the eight who apparently got into Papua New Guinea as tourists, or by posing as church workers. It assured PNG of its complete co-operation in extracting them from Bougainville and PNG.

According to the Fiji diplomatic mission in Port Moresby, the eight were told they would each be paid a million dollars a year for their services; if they believed that, what else would they believe?

In late November, the mission's Emosi Rakai, somewhat bravely ventured into Me'ekamui and returned to Port Moresby with two of the eight. Six others were said, for whatever reason, to be unable to leave the kingdom. The two escapees, if that's the word for it, explained that the purpose of the escapade in Me'ekamui was to ensure the recovery of “investments” in U-Vistract. They had been praying earnestly for this since 1999 and His Royal Highness Prince David, had promised payment before December 25. Some hope?

Early in December the PNG government was warning the remaining six Fijians to quit Bougainville immediate or face very serious charges. There were hints that they couldn't leave because Me'ekamui wouldn't let them do so.

The valiant Mr Rakai had gone back to Bougainville on another rescue bid. He definitely deserves a medal, although not one awarded by His Royal Highness. What His Royal Highness needs is that long spell in jail, and not anywhere in Bougainville. Papua New Guinea's main jail, at Bomana, is not a pleasant place. What of “Prince” Jeffrey and “Lord” James? They haven't been in evidence of late.

There was a report that they were seen being led into the Bougainville bush. Perhaps they were on a mission to open a new branch of the Me'ekamui bank.