Factbox: Bougainville poised to become world's newest nation

Bougainville Copper

11/12/2019 04:50

Dec 11 (Reuters) - The South Pacific archipelago of
Bougainville on Wednesday overwhelmingly voted to become
independent of Papua New Guinea, becoming the world's latest
territory to seek secession.
    Here are some facts about Bougainville: 
    - Buka town on Buka island is the capital of the region, and
houses the government headquarters. 
    - Around 300,000 people live in the territory, mostly in
villages outside Buka and the two other main towns of Arawa and
Buin, both on Bougainville island. A 2011 census recorded the
population as 249,358. 
    - More than 200,000 voters were registered to cast ballots
in the referendum, a significant increase in the electoral
rolls, chief referendum officer Mauricio Claudio said last
month. 
    - Bougainvilleans are mostly Melanesian and the local
language is Tok Pisin, a Papua New Guinean pidgin English,
though there are at least 19 distinct indigenous languages.
    - Bougainville island was named after French navigator Louis
Antoine de Bougainville, who sailed along its east coast in
1768.
    - In the 19th century, Bougainville was colonised by
Germany. It was used by Japan as a military base during World
War Two, and after, was administered by Australia until Papua
New Guinea (PNG) gained independence in 1975. 
    - A giant copper mine, Panguna, was opened in 1969 by
Bougainville Copper Limited (BCL)  BOC.AX , a subsidiary of
resources giant Rio Tinto  RIO.AX . 
    - Tensions over how the mine's profits should be shared
forced Rio Tinto to abandon it in 1989 amid an escalation into
civil war. At the time, it had been PNG's largest source of
export revenue, comprising about 7% of global copper production.
    - As many as 20,000 died in the civil war between
Bougainville's rebel guerrilla army and Papua New Guinea forces,
which ended in 1998, the worst conflict in the Oceania region
since World War Two.
    - There is uncertainty over how an independent Bougainville
could fund itself, as it now relies on support from PNG,
according to Australia's Lowy Institute think tank. 
    Bougainville Vice President Raymond Masono has said he would
revive a plan to overhaul the region's mining laws after the
independence referendum. That could strip the former operator of
the Panguna gold and copper project of its interests.


 (Reporting by Karishma Singh. Editing by Gerry Doyle)
 ((Karishma.Singh@thomsonreuters.com;))