Prime Minister O'neill set for historical visit to Bougainville

PNG Prime Minister Peter O'neill

PRIME Minister Peter O’Neill and a government entourage are all set to visit Central Bougainville, specifically Panguna, in two weeks time.

An advance team is already in Bougainville to prepare for the landmark visit by the Prime Minister.

As part of Peter O’Neill’s country-wide tour, he will visit Buka on January 27, Arawa and Panguna on January 28 and overnight in Buin until January 29 when he returns to Port Moresby.

He will be the first Prime Minister to visit Central and South Bougainville since the peace agreement was signed on August 02, 2002.  He will be only the second Prime Minister to visit Central Bougainville since the Crisis. The first was Bill Skate who arrived in Arawa in 1998 to broker the ceasefire between the PNG government and the rebels.

Sir William’s visit ultimately ended the island’s prolonged bloody war of secession. In 1997, Sir William, of the National Congress Party, was elected prime minister and promised that peace in Bougainville would be his highest priority.

This led to the signing of a ceasefire agreement, the Rotokas Record, and a movement towards peace and autonomy for Bougainville.

As negotiations continued, the national Government was hard hit with a K10 billion environment damage claim and talks of reconciliation between the two escalated but was marred with outstanding issues, including the murder of then North Solomon (now Bougainville) Provincial Government Premier Theodore Miriung and many other issues.

Now after more than 20 years, the next PNC-led Government under the leadership of Peter O’Neill will visit the island.

Yesterday, Central Bougain-ville MP and Communication Minister Miringtoro said the Prime Minister was all set to visit Central Bougainville to meet with families from Boku, Nagovis and Tailings in Panguna.

He said reports of Mr O’Neill being stopped from entering Panguna have been cleared and he is now free to travel to Central and South Bougainville.

Mr Miringtoro, who has been in Bougainville for a month preparing for the visit, said Bougainville is set to receive impact projects worth K500 million this year, which will be drawn down to the districts in accordance with the strict finance and treasury laws.

"The Prime Minster is not coming here to dig gold or with any related motive concerning the Panguna mine," Mr Miringtoro said.

"There are no hidden motives behind the Prime Minister’s visit to Arawa and Panguna. The Prime Minister is doing his routine visit throughout the country and Bougainville is no exception. He has completed his visits in all provinces throughout the country and this time he is coming to Bougainville."

PNG Today/ Post courier