Bougainville president warns of going against peace process

Bougainville's President Ishmael Toroama has issued a stark warning to Papua New Guinea's national parliament, stating that rejecting the 2019 independence referendum result would shatter the peace process.

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We are compelled by legal, political and moral responsibilities to respect, accept and adhere to the report and implement the framework.

Toroama addressed the Joint Supervisory Body meeting in Port Moresby, co-chaired by PNG Prime Minister James Marape. Following months of uncertainty, both governments agreed to table the referendum results in the national parliament on August 27. The 2001 Bougainville Peace Agreement, forged after the civil war, provided for this historic, non-binding referendum, in which 97.7% of voters chose independence.

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These are compliance documents. They reference nothing but the truth.

"We are compelled by legal, political and moral responsibilities to respect, accept and adhere to the report and implement the framework," Toroama stated, emphasizing compliance with joint agreements. He directly challenged the PNG government's position, which he described as a "masterpiece of bureaucratic evasion and historical revisionism." The government argues parliament has "unfettered discretion" to reject the vote, which Toroama called a "dangerous legal fiction."

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They hold us accountable to our own signatures, Prime Minister.

"The national government is treating our constitutional right to self-determination as if it were a performance review or some corporate evaluation subject to external yardsticks or the shifting political tides of the national parliament," Toroama declared. He rejected proposals for Bougainville to revisit its political status after meeting further conditions, calling it an insult to the people's intelligence. "We do not need a 'clear pathway to revisit the question,' the question has been asked, answered, and sealed in ink and blood."

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I have read the text, and I must tell you frankly: it is a masterpiece of bureaucratic evasion and historical revisionism.