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Burnham Military Camp to host consultation on the Autonomous Region of Bougainville next week

Politics

Reuben Smith
burnham-camp
Burnham Military Camp south of Christchurch  Reuben Smith/NZBS

Talks to advance Bougainville’s quest for independence will be held at Burnham Military Camp outside of Christchurch next week.

Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has announced that New Zealand will host talks between the Government of Papua New Guinea and the Government of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville next week.

 

The consultations will be taking place in the Burnham Military Camp outside of Christchurch.

 

The discussions come after an increased push by the Government of the Autonomous Region to reach their goal of becoming an independent state by September 1st 2027.

 

Peters says he's looking forward to the delegations meeting at Burnham, "28 years after we last hosted peace talks there."

 

Talks will be moderated by Sir Jerry Mateparae as an independent party along with a United Nations team.

 

"Reaching a mutually agreed outcome is important for Papua New Guinea, Bougainville, and the wider region." Peters says. "As is upholding the integrity of the Bougainville Peace Agreement, to which New Zealand is a witnessing signatory."

bougainville-map
A map of the Bougainville Autonomous Region, Bougainville Island, the biggest, to the bottom with Buka Island to the top. The region also includes other minor outlying islands. Google Maps

A referendum was held in the autonomous region in 2019, 98% of the population voted for independence.

 

The vote came in the wake of a civil war for independence from Papua New Guinea from 1988 to 1998. War was sparked by tensions involving the large Panguna copper mine owned by the Australian mining company Rio Tinto. New Zealand peacekeepers were sent to the region in the later years of the war while our government hosted ceasefire talks.

 

Mediation talks between the autonomous region and Papua New Guinea are an ongoing process to the region becoming the newest country in the world.

 

New Zealand has geopolitical interest in the region, due to our proximity to the group of islands between the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea in the Pacific.

 

In August last year, Prime Minister Chris Luxon said there were plans to co-finance a solar power project with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Buka Island, the second largest island in the autonomous region.

 

Delegates from Papua New Guinea leave Port Moresby on Friday.