Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09PORTMORESBY60
2009-04-15 07:49:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Port Moresby
Cable title:  

PNG DEFENSE FORCE COMMANDER PREDICTS PASSAGE OF PEACEKEEPING

Tags:  PREL PGOV PINR KPKO MARR MCAP MOPS PP FJ 
pdf how-to read a cable
P 150749Z APR 09
FM AMEMBASSY PORT MORESBY
TO SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5482
HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI
CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI
SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC
INFO ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM COLLECTIVE
AMEMBASSY CANBERRA PRIORITY 
AMEMBASSY SUVA PRIORITY 
AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON PRIORITY 
AMEMBASSY JAKARTA PRIORITY 
CIA WASHDC
NSC WASHINGTON DC
USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 
AMEMBASSY PORT MORESBY
C O N F I D E N T I A L PORT MORESBY 000060 


DEPT FOR EAP/ANP AND EAP/RSP
DEPT FOR PM/WRA CHARLES STONECIPHER
SUVA FOR MCGANN, PRUETT, AND DATT
USPACOM/J53 FOR BILL SCHWAB

E.O. 12958: DECL: 4/15/2019
TAGS: PREL PGOV PINR KPKO MARR MCAP MOPS PP FJ
SUBJECT: PNG DEFENSE FORCE COMMANDER PREDICTS PASSAGE OF PEACEKEEPING
BILL; EXPRESSES CONCERNS ABOUT FIJI

CLASSIFIED BY: Leslie V. Rowe, Ambassador, U.S. Embassy Port
Moresby, U.S. Department of State.
REASON: 1.4 (b)

C O N F I D E N T I A L PORT MORESBY 000060


DEPT FOR EAP/ANP AND EAP/RSP
DEPT FOR PM/WRA CHARLES STONECIPHER
SUVA FOR MCGANN, PRUETT, AND DATT
USPACOM/J53 FOR BILL SCHWAB

E.O. 12958: DECL: 4/15/2019
TAGS: PREL PGOV PINR KPKO MARR MCAP MOPS PP FJ
SUBJECT: PNG DEFENSE FORCE COMMANDER PREDICTS PASSAGE OF PEACEKEEPING
BILL; EXPRESSES CONCERNS ABOUT FIJI

CLASSIFIED BY: Leslie V. Rowe, Ambassador, U.S. Embassy Port
Moresby, U.S. Department of State.
REASON: 1.4 (b)


1. (C) Summary: Papua New Guinea (PNG) Defence Force Commander
Ilau told Ambassador April 15 there is now agreement within the
Government on introduction and passage of the International
Obligations Bill allowing PNG armed forces to participate in
international peacekeeping operations. Secretary Clinton's
discussions with FM Abal last week encouraged the Government to
move ahead. Parliament is expected to take it up May 12. Ilau
expressed interest in sending a small number of PNG troops to
Afghanistan and East Timor, but ruled out Iraq and areas
involved in the Arab-Israeli conflict. Ilau expressed concern
with developments in Fiji following a five-hour conversation
with Caretaker PM Frank Bainimarama when he transited Port
Moresby recently. He lamented that Bainimarama appears to want
to "solve all Fiji's problems, including corruption" before he
steps down. Ilau has urged neighboring countries such as New
Zealand to attempt to engage Fiji in "the regional family"
through non-directed, one-on-one "Melanesian style"
conversations. End Summary.

Clinton-Abal Conversation Advances Peacekeeping Bill
-------------- --------------


2. (C) PNG Defence Force (PNGDF) Commander Peter Ilau told the
Ambassador April 15 that the International Obligations Bill will
be considered by Parliament May 12. When approved, the Bill
will allow PNG to participate in international peacekeeping
efforts. Ilau said FM Abal and PM Somare decided to push for
passage after Abal's conversation with Secretary Clinton in
Washington last week. He said Defence Minister Dadae, who had
been cool to the passage of the Bill, now also supports the
measure. Abal, as PNG's most senior minister, will lead the

effort for passage.


3. (C) Ilau expressed confidence that the issue of compensation
for troops killed in action would not impede passage of the Act.
PNG Highlands tribes, as well as some coastal peoples, insist
on compensation for families or clans when one of their members
is killed. The issue of compensation has been a sticking point
in progress on the bill; in fact, he conceded, it remains
sensitive. Ilau said he had advised the Government to make
clear to the public that families of those killed would receive
proper remuneration. He said he would enlist the local media in
getting the word out on the Bill to ensure public support. He
said he would invite UN security officials resident in Port
Moresby to participate in a radio call-in show to help explain
UN insurance and benefits for survivors of those killed in
action.

Willing to Serve in East Timor, Possibly Afghanistan
-------------- --------------


4. (C) Ilau said the Act would not only allow PNG troops to
participate in UN peacekeeping efforts, but also in U.S. or
Australian-led efforts. He reiterated his earlier caution to us
that PNG would not want to participate in Iraq or in
peacekeeping efforts related to the Arab-Israeli conflict, but
would be willing to send a platoon to Afghanistan. He said PNG
would "certainly" be willing to contribute forces to
peacekeeping in East Timor, perhaps one or two companies; he
quoted an Australian general who told him that "the quality that
PNG forces have shown in the Solomons would be much appreciated
in East Timor." (Note: PNG police and military forces
participate in the Australian led Regional Assistance Mission to
Solomon Islands (RAMSI) under the Pacific Island Nations
Treaty.) Ilau added that total numbers devoted to overseas
peacekeeping would have to be rather small, with specific skills.


5. (C) Ilau said that, upon passage of the Bill, he would seek
to place a Defense Advisor at the PNG UN Representative's Office
in New York as well as a Defense Attachi at the PNG Embassy in
Washington.

Concerns about Fiji, Bainimarama
--------------


6. (C) Ilau expressed concern about the situation in Fiji. He
lamented that Fiji Caretaker Prime Minister Commodore Frank
Bainimarama "has the view that he can fix all of Fiji's problems
by himself, including corruption." Ilau recently spent five
hours in conversation with Bainimarama at the airport as the
Fijian was returning from India. "He seems hellbent on
eradicating corruption before calling elections and returning
Fiji to a normal system," Ilau added. Ilau said he joked to
Bainimarama that as long as Fiji remains in its current status,
"we can't even play rugby with you." "Yes," he said Bainimarama
responded, "and I'm catching hell from my troops for it."


7. (C) Ilau suggested Bainimarama resign and move away (but, he
asked rhetorically, to where?). He said the Fiji Prime Minister
intends to use his time in power to "get rid of some people in
politics and business" whom he associates with corruption. Ilau
opined that Bainimarama needs to learn that "there are some
things in life you can never fix, you can only contain."

A Need for Engagement, Conversation "In the Pacific Way"
-------------- --------------


8. (C) Ilau said that on a recent visit to New Zealand, he told
NZ officials there is a need for neighboring countries to work
out a way to engage Fiji regionally, to give the country a sense
of being part of a larger regional family. He urged New Zealand
and other Pacific countries to sit down with Bainimarama and
"find out what he really wants," expressing concern with Fiji's
growing relations with "outside" countries such as India and
China. He said PNG PM Somare had tried to engage Fiji "in the
Pacific way," even providing financial assistance for elections
and flood relief, but without success. (In an aside, he defined
"the Pacific way" as "two people sitting down to talk
informally, not advertising an agenda"; better, he said, "to
conceal any underlying agenda or to not have one in the first
place.")


9. (C) Ilau said chances are poor that Bainimarama will attend
the Pacific Island Forum scheduled for May in Australia. He
added that "we should not treat him as a bad boy," but rather
listen to his concerns as a way of bringing Fiji back to full
democracy.

Comment: A Need for More U.S. Military Engagement with PNG?
-------------- --------------


10. (C) We were encouraged to learn the Government now intends
to move ahead on the International Obligations Bill. PNG has a
positive contribution to make to international peacekeeping
efforts. If the Bill passes and PNG follows through on Ilau's
plans to station military officers in New York and Washington,
it will correspondingly increase our need for military liaison
in Port Moresby, perhaps to include opening a Defense Attachi
Office at the Embassy.


ROWE