Churches in Papua New Guinea’s autonomous region of Bougainville marked Easter with a major reconciliation and unification ceremony in Arawa. The Post Courier reports that church leaders acknowledged that after arriving in the region a hundred years ago, different denominations had created division among the people. This disunity continued on through the crisis years of Read more
Posts Tagged ‘Bougainville’
Question agreed for Bougainville’s independence referendum
Monday, October 15th, 2018Leaders from Bougainville and Papua New Guinea have finally agreed to the question that will be asked in next year’s independence referendum. The referendum – tentatively scheduled for next June – will mark the end of a 20-year peace process that followed the end of the Bougainville civil war in the 1990s. The people of Read more
Plea not to delay Bougainville referendum
Monday, July 2nd, 2018June 15 next year had been tentatively set for the referendum on possible independence from Papua New Guinea, but in recent weeks there have been suggestions that the region is not ready and may need to delay it. Source: Radio NZ
PNG’s Minister of Bougainville Affairs worked as a priest for 28 years
Thursday, August 24th, 2017
A man who worked as a Catholic for priest for 28 years is the new Papua New Guinea’s Minister for Bougainville Affairs. Simon Dumarinu is a first time member of parliament. He narrowly defeated former Mining Minister Sam Akoitai in the Central Bougainville Open seat in the recent Papua New Guinea general election. A Barapang Read more
Bougainville’s Bishop pleads for reconciliation
Tuesday, July 12th, 2016
The bishop of Bougainville, Bernard Unabali, has called on the people of Bougainville to see reconciliation as means for bringing peace and not just for political reasons. He said this during his speech at Teituno village in the Wisai area of Buin in south Bougainville while witnessing a reconciliation ceremony in May. The reconciliation saw Read more
Bougainville bikies spreading message of peace
Friday, August 28th, 2015
A bikies group made up of former combatants of Bougainville’s civil war is spreading the message of peace across the country. The Bougainville Motocross Club has proved immensely popular and has helped turn around the lives of people who were affected by the war. The club’s founding president, Emilroy Augustine, said the club had toured Read more
Fr Michael Tondicop R.I.P.
Friday, July 10th, 2015
Fr Michael Tondicop died suddenly in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville on July 4. He had just returned, on Saturday evening, from visiting small Christian communities at Tohatsi, Hanahan parish, hearing confessions of school children preparing for first communion. Michael was the superior the Koromira Marist community on Buka in Bougainville. He had previously been Read more
Bougainville elects first woman MP in open seat
Tuesday, June 9th, 2015
Josephine Getsi, in Peit constituency, has become the first woman to win an open seat since Bougainville first held elections under its autonomy arrangements ten years ago. Getsi says her success is an important symbol for all Bougainvillean women. She was competing against 11 men and did particularly well through the second preference votes re-allocated Read more
Relatives of Bougainville’s missing hoping for closure
Friday, October 31st, 2014
The Bougainville Government has adopted a missing persons policy to try and determine what happened to those who vanished during the Bougainville Civil War. The Red Cross helped formulate the policy and says it’s ready to help locate, identify and return human remains. Listen to Interview The new approach could see the possible exhumation of Read more
Church helps climate change refugees resettle in Bougainville
Tuesday, August 12th, 2014
The Catholic Church is playing its part in helping resettle more than 2000 people from a low-lying Pacific atoll threatened by climate change. Most of the 2700 people on the Carteret Atoll are relocating to Bougainville after their home islands have become increasingly uninhabitable. The atoll, made up of six islets, has suffered saltwater intrusion, contaminating Read more