Disaster capitalists in Bougainville just want another shot at ruining the place

A foreign company destroys Bougainville in Papua New Guinea and leaves a trail of ecological destruction. Years after, the same company wants to re-open the same mine by whispering sweet nothings about its intentions. Dont believe a word.

Following my Crikey investigation last week, today sees an unintentionally funny response to the publication. Yes, vulture capitalists are crying poor and demanding a fair go. Having seen with my own eyes what they did last time in Bougainville, they quite simply can’t be trusted now:

Axel G. Sturm, Bougainville Copper, writes: Re. “How the ”˜resource curse’ eats at the heart of Bougainville” (Friday, item 8). Unfortunately Antony Loewenstein missed a good chance to unmask the situation in Bougainville’s central region.

Unfortunately he seems to be more interested in describing people’s clothing than analysing their real problems: No word about the money paid in the past by BCL … that vanished in the pockets of dubious PNG businessmen and greedy politicians. No word about multiple criminal groups that”‰—”‰until today”‰—”‰try to enrich themselves and kill even children for that.

Only a few days ago PNG attitude… published an article… on that.

Our company, Bougainville Copper Limited, has been more or less a victim of local greed and brutality. But Loewenstein pretends to be an “independent journalist”. But in reality his work is superficial and extremely poor”‰—”‰unfortunately! His allegations that China could be a better adviser in independence than Australia is absolute nonsense.

I know very well that it is not easy to get a good overview on the complex situation on the ground. Therefore the European shareholders of Bougainville Copper provide the world’s biggest source for research on Bougainville … www.bougainville-copper.eu… .

Text and images ©2024 Antony Loewenstein. All rights reserved.

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