Bougainville
King Con
Noah Musingku
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| His Majesty King David Pei 2 - better known as Noah Musingku |
Hiding in the jungles of southwest Bougainville island, a self-declared king is bleeding and on the run. Protecting him are his remaining loyal retinue, and a now-sole Fijian mercenary. His Kingdom of Papaala lies in ashes and there is a
warrant for his arrest.
His Majesty King David Pei II—better known as Noah Musingku–crowned himself “King of Bougainville” following the mysterious death of Bougainville’s long- time rebel leader Francis Ona in 2005.
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His pyramid schemes go by a variety of names, including “U-Vistract” in PNG and Bougainville, “Money Rain” in the Solomon Islands and “O Ye Come” in Fiji. The names of his Australian and Vanuatu operations remain hidden so far.
Bougainville leaders claim that Musingku’s “cargo-cult” kingdom is also hiding a political agenda – to destabilize the newly elected autonomous government in Bougainville. The lack of action by PNG authorities to apprehend him and Fijian mercenaries (now in custody), plus Musingku’s previous involvement with PNG authorities–including a stint in the PNG Defense Force and a secret proposal by his brother Meshach to the PNG government in 1998 has created deep suspicion that Musingku is a “trojan horse” for the PNG government still intent on thwarting Bougainville’s move towards independence.
Late last year I traveled to Bougainville for the BBC to investigate the strange saga of two white con-men; a Brit calling himself “Lord” James Nesbitt, an Australian “Prince” Jeffrey Richards and their connection to the Pacific’s most wanted man, Noah Musingku.
“We believe that the late king’s death was not accidental” claims Edwin Moses, the new leader of Ona’s rebel Mekamui faction, who spoke to me in Arawa.
Bougainville Revolutionary Army leader Francis Ona, had also been crowned “King” in 2004 under the influence of Musingku.
Moses says, “It is our firm belief that those two expats—Nesbitt and Richards— were responsible for his death. And Noah is responsible too because he brought them in.” Edwin Moses was with them for much of their stay in the mountains above the Panguna mine. “James told us he had been sent by the Queen of England because she was a major shareholder in RTZ (British owned Rio Tinto Zinc is the parent company of Bougainville Copper Ltd, the Australian subsidiary which operated the mine). It made us suspicious and I thought why would he be here when our King Francis doesn’t want the mine to be reopened? Every morning James made tea for King Francis, every afternoon he made tea for King Francis. What does all that tea add up to?”
In March last year Nesbitt and Richards surrendered to police after 18 months hiding with both Noah Musingku and Francis Ona.
Moses claims that it was under the influence of Musingku, Nesbitt and Richards that Francis Ona switched from being a republican, as he had been since the start of the war, to becoming a monarchist and made “King of Bougainville.”
This surprised some of his supporters, who believed that their struggle was for an independent republic where landowners own everything below their subsoil, unlike PNG and Australia, which still has Queen Elizabeth as Head of State and where everything below six feet of land, including all mineral riches, belong to “the Crown.”
When “King” Francis Ona died, it was Nesbitt and Richards who told the Mekamui faction not to let Ona’s body go for an autopsy, after the Autonomous Government Bougainville (ABG) had offered a post mortem and a state funeral.
“It was under their advice that we buried Francis in Guava village,” Moses says, a decision he now regrets.
In 2003, Musingku had fled the Solomon Islands before the RAMSI intervention and found sanctuary with Francis Ona’s Mekamui faction. Not long afterwards he invited Nesbitt and Richards in to do “community projects.” The two men continued to stay with Francis Ona after a fallout between Ona and Musingku.
Ona had demanded to know about a proposal Musingku and his brother Meshach had offered to the PNG government. A copy of the document that I have, stamped “Top Secret” and written by
Meshach Autahe (Noah’s brother), contains a brief history of anti-secessionism in Bougainville by Meshach’s Pei Mure Association and offers to continue these activities.
Eventually Ona, who had himself invested heavily in Musingku’s pyramid scheme and waited years for a payout, also demanded full payment of his funds within seven days. Ona returned to Guava village above Panguna mine with Nesbitt and Richards and for the first time, sent out feelers for a reconciliation with the newly elected Autonomous Bougainville Government President Joe Kabui.
A week later Ona was dead.
Before I leave Arawa, there is a knock on my door from one of Musingku’s men. His Majesty will grant me an audience, I’m told, to my surprise, given Musingku’s notoriety and reclusiveness.
At 3 a.m. we drive into the No Go zone, past roadblocks manned by armed Mekamui guerrillas and climb the Kongara mountain range road leading to the destroyed Panguna mine. Once the most advanced copper and gold mine on earth, the “jewel in our crown” according to RTZ, it is now an industrial apocalypse, where huge mining trucks have been swallowed by the jungle and the once vibrant mining town abandoned.
At a neatly kept village of thatch huts I am escorted to Noah’s office where Bible quotes on placards surround his desk. Noah appears behind the door, wearing pandanus woven bandoliers and a crown with King Pei written on it. I ask him to explain his name and Kingdom.
“Papaala is the original place where our ancestors came from. It’s like the Garden of Eden and we can trace our heritage back to it. Papaala also refers to God as our origin, the same God as Isaac, Abraham and Jacob, the same God of creation, the same source….we are Christians, not cargo cultists. What we do will benefit thousands of people, millions of people around the world. What we do is for the sake of the human race.”
He blames the PNG government and Reserve Bank for blocking payment of funds to his investors.
“So many times we have tried to pay out but commercial banks are stopping us because of their own agenda. Once we have freedom of movement and our communications are in place then we can pay out. I’m not a con-man. I’ve tried my best to pay people out.”
Musingku claims there was no argument with Ona before he died and that Ona had formally handed over the reigns of power to him.
“There was no dispute. King Francis came to see me here in June last year. He also met people from Parliament and told them: ‘I have come to the end of this stage. From now on, brother King, King Pei will take over and take you to yourv destination.’ It was like a handover. Straight after that we gave him cards and opened a bank account for him and with happiness he went back to Guava village.
The next month he died, after passing the power of the nation to me.”
Can he understand why many Bougainvilleans think he might be an agent for PNG and British interests?
“If I am an agent for PNG why are they persecuting me all this time? Anyone with the slightest common sense can understand that I am not an agent of PNG or whatever. I’m here to pull them down, destroy and overthrow, plan a new system for people
to enjoy.”
Questions remain in this intriguing saga. Why was Lord Nesbitt telling faction leaders and Bougainville’s police chief that he was on a mission from the Queen of England?
Bougainville police and President Joe Kabui (himself the target of a recent assassination plot) remain angry and suspicious about the episode—they had handed Nesbitt and Richards over to PNG police and the Australian and British High Commissions believing that they would be put on trial and jailed in PNG. Instead, they were made to sign a statement and then unconditionally released.
When interviewed this month in Port Moresby, Musingku’s brother Mesache denies any co-operation with the PNG government but is also suspicious about Nesbitt’s possible involvement in Ona’s death. He wonders if Nesbitt is in fact a freelance bounty hunter, hoping to collect the reported K10 million bounty (AUS$4 million) that the PNG government had placed on Ona’s head. A PNG official has since confirmed that a K200,000 bounty (at 1990 exchange: AUS$220,000) was placed on Ona at the start of the war.
It is strange that given Musingku’s “wanted” status in PNG, his brother Mesache, considered the “brains behind Musingku,” has no trouble coming and going regularly from Bougainville to Port Moresby, where he has a house and lives with his family.
PNG’s Minister for Bougainville Affairs Sir Peter Barter has stated, “there is absolutely no relationship with Noah Musingku or his brother Mesache Autehre with the PNG National Government. How and why Musingku, his brother and associates continue to operate, I do not know.”
With regards to Nesbitt and Richards, Sir Peter says “the problem as I understand it, is that there was no evidence and no witnesses available to press charges.”
But if there is substance to a secret alliance between sections of the PNG government and Noah Musinku’s Kingdom, then tens of thousands of investors in half a dozen Pacific nations including Australia are entitled to ask if they have been unwitting victims of an elaborate con engineered to keep Bougainville part of PNG.
Meanwhile, the mystery surrounding Francis Ona’s death remains–and the possible role of the con-men in it—until Ona’s body is exhumed and a proper autopsy done.
“Obviously there are multinational companies and sovereign countries who don’t want to see Bougainville go ahead through the peace agreements towards independence,” says President Joe Kabui at Bougainville’s new Parliament house.
“We still have a lot of enemies out there."
