Australian FM welcomes Bougainville peace treaty<\/p>\n
CANBERRA (AFP): Australia applauded Friday Papua New Guinean
\nmoves to sign a peace treaty that signals the end of a
\nsecessionist war on the restive island of Bougainville.<\/p>\n
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and his opposition
\ncounterpart Laurie Brereton will travel to Bougainville next week
\nto witness the signing of the ground-breaking treaty.<\/p>\n
The pair will fly to the former capital of Bougainville,
\nArawa, to take part in the signing ceremony next Thursday.<\/p>\n
The treaty signing will formally mark the end of a decade of
\ncivil war in PNG's easternmost province more than three years
\nafter an often shaky truce was called between Papua New Guinea
\nand Bougainvillean guerrilla fighters.<\/p>\n
\"It is a very welcome development in reaching a settlement in
\nBougainville,\" a spokesman for Downer said Friday.<\/p>\n
PNG government ministers and officials, New Zealand's Foreign
\nMinister Phil Goff and United Nations peace monitor Noel Sinclair
\nwill also witness the signing.<\/p>\n
The signing of the treaty was flagged in Papua New Guinea's
\nparliament Thursday by Bougainville's governor, former Catholic
\npriest John Momis, who will head an autonomous island government
\nof what is now officially called the North Solomons Province.<\/p>\n
Up to 20,000 lives were lost during the war, which pitted the
\nBougainville Revolutionary Army against the PNG defense force.<\/p>\n
Violence erupted in 1989 when rebels blew up power pylons
\nservicing Australian miner CRA's (now Rio Tinto's) Panguna gold
\nand copper mine, which generated most of PNG's foreign exchange
\nearnings.<\/p>\n
Local clansmen, led by Francis Ona, accused the mine's
\noperators of polluting tribally-held lands and diluting locals'
\nequity in the project.<\/p>\n
Under a peace deal negotiated in the three years since the
\n1998 cease-fire, Bougainville will receive autonomous powers to
\nestablish its own judiciary, police force and tax regime.<\/p>\n
Ona and his still-armed Me'ekamui Defense Force guerrillas,
\nwho have thus far remained outside the peace process, are
\nexpected to sanction the Arawa signing, Australian officials
\nsaid.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/australian-fm-welcomes-bougainville-peace-treaty-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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