Where is bougainville

Louis-Antoine de Bougainville, a French explorer and navigator, gave the islands their name. He is also the namesake of the Bougainvillea flower. While Bougainville is difficult for many people to access, especially from North America and Europe, the tradeoff is gorgeous, unspoiled beaches ready for swimming, surfing, kayaking and simply taking in the scenery -- not to mention the bragging rights of visiting a place none of your friends have been to.

Getting there from the Solomon Islands. It is possible to access Bougainville via the Solomon Islands, their neighbor to the east. Boats are available from the Shortland Islands on the western side of the Solomons, but keep in mind that you will still have to go through customs like you would at any other border. These are private boats that you'll have to hire yourself, as there's no official ferry system between the island groups. You must present yourself to immigration upon on arrival in Bougainville, and it's preferred that you make arrangements with PNG Immigration prior to departing Solomon Islands.

As for getting to the Solomons, the easiest way is by air. The number one source of revenue in the fledgling nation is copper mining. Basing the state on customary authority would enhance its legitimacy, and exercising state powers would enhance the stature of customary leaders. On the other hand, Miriung recognized that customary authority was essentially autocratic and might only be viable as a transitional measure over perhaps 10 to 15 years, by which time economic and social change could be expected to create pressure for a more democratic system of government.

It was in part for this reason that the COE legislation gave communities the right to choose, at five-year intervals, whether to select COE members by custom or through elections. COEs now operate in most parts of Bougainville. Their performance has so far been uneven, for many reasons.

Some COEs are far too large, and remote from the communities they serve. For example, one of the largest, the Leitana COE, serves the whole of Buka Island, more than 30, people, and has become deeply involved in Bougainville-wide politics rather than staying focused on the many Buka communities. As "normalcy" has returned to various parts of Bougainville, and as their stature has diminished, chiefs are no longer an almost unchallenged source of authority.

Under the autonomy arrangements agreed to in the Bougainville Peace Agreement, Bougainville has wide power to establish its own institutions. While the original leader of the rebellion, Francis Ona, has not yet joined the process, most other Bougainville leaders--including Damien Dameng, who, in his early seventies, continues to lead Me'ekamui Onoring Pontoku--support it. Most people agree that a new Bougainville government should be based on customary authority.

Processes for drafting a constitution for an autonomous Bougainville, expected to begin this year, are likely to involve wide public consultation. But discussion has thus far been limited to the strengthening of the COE system and the possibility of establishing of a bicameral legislature involving an upper house representing chiefs.

A range of difficulties, both practical and fundamental, confronts the enterprise. The practical difficulties have already limited the effective implementation of the COE system in Bougainville. More fundamental issues involve challenge to customary authority; rapid economic and social change will only exacerbate the problem.

Resolving the tension involved in basing an accountable democratic system of governance for an autonomous or independent Bougainville on what is in many respects an autocratic system of customary power will not be easy. There is also potential for tension between conceptions of individual rights and responsibilities and the rights and responsibilities of groups, though of course Bougainville will not be the first place to deal with such tensions, and could learn much from experiences elsewhere.

Discrimination by powerful local leaders against outsiders, both people from elsewhere in Bougainville and people from other parts of PNG, is also a threat.

These and similar potential problems should not be unmanageable, however, especially if effective and sensitive support and guidance is provided to customary authorities exercising new forms of power. Bougainvilleans are committed to the enterprise, and will undoubtedly bring great energy to it. They do not have a static view of their own custom.

They want to build on it, and in so doing, to enable their multiple communities to find their own paths into an unpredictable future. Anthony Regan, a constitutional lawyer, advises Bougainvillean parties to the negotiations with the Papua New Guinea government on the political future of Bougainville. Denoon, D.

Getting Under the Skin. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press. Ghai Y. Bougainville and the dialectics of ethnicity, autonomy and separation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pp Nash, J. The red and the black: Bougainvillean perceptions of other Papua New Guineans.

Pacific Studies , pp Ogan, E. The cultural background to the Bougainville crisis. Journal de la Societe des Oceanistes , pp Oliver, D. Melbourne: Hyland House. Regan, A. Current developments in the Pacific: causes and course of the Bougainville conflict. The Journal of Pacific History , pp In Reflections on Violence in Melanesia. Dinnen, S.

Wesley-Smith, T. Development and crisis in Bougainville: a bibliographic essay. The Contemporary Pacific , pp Our website houses close to five decades of content and publishing. Any content older than 10 years is archival and Cultural Survival does not necessarily agree with the content and word choice today.

Learn about Cultural Survival's response to Covid Cultural Survival Quarterly Magazine. Bougainville: Beyond Survival. Conflict and Peace While the Panguna mine was the major contributor to Papua New Guinea's GDP and government revenue, its perceived imposition by the colonial regime for the benefit of the rest of Papua New Guinea was widely resented in Bougainville, and from the mids contributed to an already emerging ethno-nationalist movement for secession from Papua New Guinea.

It says it will accept "any settlement negotiated", but most Bougainvilleans believe that Australia opposes independence. From further afield, the US and China are also watching the developments closely. China is thought to already have sent a delegation to look at investing in Bougainville, including a new port.

Beijing has recently increased its efforts to boost ties with island nations in the Pacific, establishing diplomatic ties with the Solomon Islands and Kiribati. Papua New Guinea country profile. Bougainville rebel leader dies. Image source, Getty Images. Women in tribal colours attend a Bougainville reconciliation ceremony in November. Why independence? Bougainville timeline province of newly independent PNG separatist war with PNG breaks out international mediation ends war peace agreement sets deadline for independence poll Bougainville independence referendum BBC.

The Bougainville war ended in after international mediation. So what options are there? People vote for more autonomy, turning down the independence option. The province would then transition to become a sovereign country People vote for independence but PNG does not accept the outcome or tries to delay any further steps. This might lead to a new crisis and fresh conflict. A poster encouraging Bougainvilleans to register to vote. What does Papua New Guinea say? So why does PNG want Bougainville to stay?

Is Bougainville ready for independence?