| The longest conflict in the Pacific has ended The island of Bougainville, part of the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, has gained autonomy. The island will now be governed by its own government in accordance with its own constitution. The ceremony in the city of Arawa, the administrative center of Bougainville, drew a line under the longest civil war in the Pacific. Bougainvilleans have been fighting for independence from Papua New Guinea since the late 1980s, and about 15 thousand people became victims of the civil strife.
Papua New Guinea has about 5.3 million inhabitants and is located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, north of Australia, on 600 islands. About 160 thousand people live in Bougainville. There is a large copper deposit here with estimated ore reserves of over 915 million tons, which has been mined by Australians since 1972. Until 1975 inclusive, Papua New Guinea was a UN trust territory under Australian administration. The separatist movement grew out of a conflict between Aboriginal people and the administration of one of the Australian mining companies. Now the issue of distribution of income from copper exports will be resolved with the mandatory participation of the islanders themselves. They also had the right to ban laws relating to Bougainville if they suddenly did not like them.
The former metropolis played an important role in establishing peace. 210 Australian police officers became the main force of the contingent created by a number of Pacific island states at the initiative of Canberra. Peacekeepers were sent to the conflict zone in 1997, leading to a ceasefire agreement between the Papua New Guinea government and the separatists in August 2001. Australians, New Zealanders and the UN monitoring mission on Bougainville, launched in 2001, monitored the disarmament of the rebels - a key condition for granting self-government to the rebel island.
Australia also persuaded the leadership of its neighboring country, the Solomon Islands, to adhere to a policy of non-intervention. Geographically, Bougainville is part of the Solomon Islands archipelago. The leaders of the Bougainville separatists argued that “racially” they were closer to the Solomon Islands, that is, geographical neighbors, than their fellow Papuans of less dark skin color. Alexander SAMOKHOTKIN |
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