PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (AP) – Negotiators in Papua New Guinea have agreed to allow the secessionist province of Bougainville to vote on independence in a referendum, a a news agency reported Saturday.<\/p>\n
The decision was reached after three years of peace talks, which in turn followed nine years of civil war that killed as many as 20,000 people.<\/p>\n
The pact still needs to be approved by a two-thirds vote in Papua New Guinea’s parliament, as well as by Bougainville rebel leaders.<\/p>\n
The agreement was reached late Friday after negotiations at Kokopo in the northeastern part of the Southeast Asian country, a government source told the Australian Associated Press on condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n
Bougainvilleans threatened late last year that violence could break out again in the restive province were it not offered the option of full independence.<\/p>\n
Officials in Papua New Guinea’s capital, Port Moresby, wanted only to offer the mineral-rich province limited autonomy.<\/p>\n
Civilian leaders from Bougainville and Papua New Guinea government officials signed the agreement.<\/p>\n
The accord states that a referendum would be held 10 to 15 years after the election of a new autonomous government for Bougainville island. No date has been set for those elections.<\/p>\n
Rebels in Bougainville, an island 620 miles east of Papua New Guinea’s main island, fought a nine-year war of secession until a truce in 1998.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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