BOUGAINVILLE: Independence is issue - Kabui id BAA20982; Fri, 12 Sep 1997 01:50:04 -0400 Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit source: VIKKI@lexsun.law.uts.edu.au Thu Sep 11 00:16:00 1997 Title -- 860 BOUGAINVILLE: Independence is issue - Kabui Date -- 1 September 1997 Byline -- None Origin -- Niuswire (niusedita@pactok.net.au) Source -- Post-Courier (PNG), 1/9/97 Copyright -- Post-Courier Status -- Abridged ----------------- INDEPENDENCE IS ISSUE FOR BOUGAINVILLE - KABUI ROREINANG: The negotiability or otherwise of independence for Bougainville should remain the property of Bougainville, rebel leader Joseph Kabui said on Friday, the Post-Courier reported today. Prime Minister Bill Skate had said last week that independence was not negotiable, and sounded caution also on autonomy for Bougainville out of fear that other provinces might ask for the same. That's the rebel Bougainville Interim Government's response to Prime Minister Bill Skate's stance on the non-negotiability of independence for Bougainville published in this paper on Friday. Mr Kabui, a senior member of the BIG and a signatory to the Burnham Declaration, issued the rebel response to that statement while welcoming New Zeaand Foreign Affairs Minister Don McKinnon to rebel-controlled Roreinang. He said that in the Burnham Declaration "we have come up with a mechanism that we believe - humanly speaking - is the best that we can come up with to achieve a long-lasting solution". Bougainvilleans on both sides of the nine-year-old conflict were receiving the same message and throwing their support behind it. He added: "Even the issue of self-determination is an issue that must remain the property of people of Bougainville. It's the people of Bougainville that must decide and the mechanism has been put in place in Burnham." The rebel leader said Mr Skate's comment "that independence is non-negotiable" was "not the language that we would like to hear". Blood had been poured on Bougainville land in the fighting, Mr Kabui said. The intricate and intimate linking of blood and land meant that the issue of self-determination or giving Bougainville a real choice to decide must be made. +++niuswire This document is for educational and personal use only. Recipients should seek permission from the copyright source for reprinting. This service is provided by Journalism Studies, University of Papua New Guinea. Please acknowledge NIUSWIRE. Queries: niusedita@pactok.net.au http://www.pactok.net.au/docs/nius/ ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytpac-09.12.97-01:50:04-13098