PIR: STILL NO RESPONSE FROM ONA REGARDING BOUGAINVILLE TRUCE


Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit

source:N.Braumann@tu-bs.de  Tue Oct 21 04:54:50 1997

http://pidp.ewc.hawaii.edu/PIReport/October%201997/10-20-02.html


PACIFIC ISLANDS REPORT

Pacific Islands Development Program/Center for Pacific Islands Studies

STILL NO RESPONSE FROM ONA REGARDING
BOUGAINVILLE TRUCE

CANBERRA, Australia (October 19, 1997 - PACNEWS)---There still has
been no public response to the truce on Bougainville from secessionist
leader Francis Ona.

The Burnham Declaration signed in New Zealand more than a week ago by
the Papua New Guinea government and the warring factions on
Bougainville called for the immediate end of armed conflict, a
commitment to peace and reconciliation, and the restoration of
essential government services on Bougainville.

The declaration required secessionists to lay down their weapons, and
the PNG defense force, in turn, to lift its blockade of the island.
Ona, who did not attend the two weeks of talks at the Burnham army
camp near Christchurch, New Zealand, which led to the declaration, is
known to have been fully briefed by his representatives.

To date, there has been no response from Ona. Efforts to contact him
by satellite telephone at his jungle headquarters on Bougainville have
been unsuccessful.

Reports from Bougainville say the situation is calm and the truce is
being observed.

 
=================================================================
  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-10.21.97-17:20:51-20820