PORT MORESBY, March 1, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – A referendum that could lead to
statehood for the troubled south Pacific Island of Bougainville will be
delayed until the end of the year, top officials meeting in Port Moresby said
Friday.
Amid a row over funding, the vote — which could split the island from
Papua New Guinea and create the world’s newest country — will not take place
in June as planned.
Bertie Ahern, the former Irish prime minister who chairs the referendum
commission, said that holding the vote on the June 15 as planed was “just not
possible.”
“This is of course disappointing to me and everyone else, but it is the
reality of the situation,” he said, recommending that the vote now take place
on October 17.
An official announcement on the new date is expected to be made later
Friday, officials taking part in talks between the regional and central
government said.
The vote is seen as a key pillar of a 2001 peace process that ended a
brutal decade-long civil war that killed up to 20,000 people — one in ten of
the island’s population.
The battle between secessionists and the central Papua New Guinea
government only ended with a promise of more autonomy and an eventual vote on
statehood.
Both the government in Port Moresby and authorities in Bougainville
indicated they wanted that vote to go ahead, despite a row over funding.
“Our government is committed to making sure that we will have the
referendum this year” Prime Minister Peter O’Neill said, amid criticism from
the region’s president John Momis about his “slow release of funds.”
The referendum commission “will need more time to be ready to conduct the
free and fair and credible referendum” he said.
Observers have warned that disputes and delays risk rekindling unrest and
heightening political tensions.
Analysts at Fitch Solutions have predicted that Bougainvilleans will vote
for independence, but it is not clear that the authorities in Port Moresby
will honour the result.
Ahern warned both sides that further delay would be disastrous and that
they face years of difficult negotiations even after the vote takes place.