As anger boils among younger generations for allowing themselves to be conned by Australia on independence, a diplomacy of promise-keeping is needed to prevent the fragmentation of Bougainville, followed by the fragmentation of Papua New Guinea, writes John Braithwaite.

In 2019, Bougainville finally had an independence referendum which was provided for in the peace agreement that ended the 1988-98 civil war.

That war started with environmental and other grievances over a Conzinc Rio Tinto Australia mine.

97.7 per cent of Bougainvilleans voted for independence in preference to increased autonomy in a free and fair referendum. It now seems unlikely that the Papua-New Guinea Parliament will ever ratify the referendum decision. The peace agreement requires it to do so for independence to proceed.

Former Irish Prime Minister, Bertie Ahern, oversaw the integrity of the referendum. He reported to the UN Secretary-General and the people of Bougainville that the vote was so overwhelming for independence in a UN-sanctioned referendum that the international community would ensure that Bougainville became the world’s next independent country.

All four of Bougainville’s elected Presidents of the past 20 years thought this too. They said they had always believed Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer had assured Bougainville negotiators that if the vote was overwhelming, the international community would not tolerate roadblocks to independence.

Australia, in fact, has always been........

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