Rebel region vows to become Pacific’s newest nation by 2027: ‘the people have spoken’

Bougainville, home to about 300,000 people, voted to secede from Papua New Guinea five years ago after a bloody decade-long war

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A bustling waterway in Bougainville’s capital Buka pictured in 2019. Photo: AFP

Published: 2:32pm, 11 Dec 2024Updated: 2:33pm, 11 Dec 2024

Papua New Guinea’s copper- and gold-rich Bougainville region is set to declare independence by 2027, eight years after a landslide vote to secede, its leader said on Wednesday.

The region – home to about 300,000 people and a vast, long-closed copper and gold mine – voted 97.7 per cent in favour of independence in a 2019 referendum.

But some analysts say it is unclear whether Papua New Guinea will agree to let the region break away any time soon, and what form its future status will take.

The independence referendum capped a 2001 peace agreement that brought an end to a decade-long war between Bougainville rebels, Papua New Guinea security forces and foreign mercenaries, leaving as many as 20,000 people dead.

In 2021, Bougainville’s rebel leaders and Papua New Guinea’s government agreed on a process that would culminate in a “declaration of independence” by 2027.

Bougainville’s President Ishmael Toroama speaks during the Papua New Guinea Investment Week conference in Sydney on Wednesday. Photo: AFP

“The people have spoken,” Bougainville President Ishmael Toroama told reporters on Wednesday on the sidelines of an investment conference in Sydney.