Francis Ona

How effectively do the Relative Deprivation and Grievance models explain the causes of the Bougainville conflict, and what role did the leadership of Francis Ona play?

“It does not really matter whether rebels are motivated by greed, by a lust for power, or by grievance, as long as what causes conflict is the feasibility of the predation.”1 - Paul Collier, ANU College of Asia & the Pacific “In the afternoon… five or six negroes, came from the shore to view our ships. They stopped within musket shot, and continued at that distance near an hour, when our repeated invitations at last determined them to come nearer… They came along-side of the ships, shewing cacoa-nuts, and crying bouca, bouca, onelle!... They did not long keep along-side of
Not to remote PNG, to which most felt little connection.”24 D.S. Carruthers, then-Chairman of Bougainville Copper Ltd. describes the distribution of this money as “central to the emergence of the crisis… the argument revolved around three issues: the share for the provincial government, the share for the landowners, and the distribution of the landholders’ share among themselves.”25 • Inequality amongst compensation recipients. The amount of landownership compensation was not uniform across all individuals, this bled into other forms of favouritism that created frictions. In a nation that highly valued the principles of a ‘fair, honest and equal society’26 such actions potentially resonated harder than they would have in other parts of the world where wealth obtainment and individualism are acceptable and even part of common ideology. “[The Bougainvillean workers] with their newly acquired wealth… became a decisive force in the village… the power structure of the village was turned upside down… [they traditionally] held the values of voluntary commitment, duty and self-sacrifice for the good of the community as unquestionable truths.”27 They had distinct and well-defined understandings of how to lead ‘the good life’. “Striking changes had to be made to the Bougainvilleans notion about this style of life by the introduction and wider extension of the money economy, and by the development of a large-scale modern mining industry.”28 • Low levels of landownership compensation. The amounts issued to landowners did not reflect the enormous profits BCL was making, nor the inconvenience caused by construction, but they also failed to drastically improve the lives of many of the people who lived in the region. “Most of the payments… were quite small and in many cases were once-off payments. Their distribution amongst