The Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG; tpi, Otonomos Bogenvil Gavman) is the government of the

Autonomous Region of Bougainville Bougainville ( ; ; Tok Pisin: ''Bogenvil''), officially the Autonomous Region of Bougainville (Tok Pisin: ''Otonomos Region bilong Bogenvil''), is an autonomous region in Papua New Guinea. The largest island is Bougainville Island, while the re ...

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

Structure

The Constitution of Bougainville specifies that the Autonomous Bougainville Government shall consist of three branches: * Executive – the

President of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville The President of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville governs the island, which is an autonomous entity within Papua New Guinea. List of presidents of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville The first President of Bougainville was Joseph Kab ...

, who chairs the Bougainville Executive Council * Legislative – the Bougainville House of Representatives (39 elected members and 2 ex officio members). * Judicial – the Bougainville Courts, including a Supreme Court and High Court.

History

The government was established in 2000 following a peace agreement between the government of Papua New Guinea and the

Bougainville Revolutionary Army The Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA) was a secessionist group formed in 1988 by Bougainvilleans seeking independence from Papua New Guinea (PNG). The leader of the BRA was Francis Ona who led the BRA against the Papua New Guinea Defence Force ...

(BRA) a guerrilla movement. Elections for the first autonomous government were held in May and June 2005;

Joseph Kabui Joseph Canisius Kabui (1954 – 7 June 2008) was a secessionist leader and the first President of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, off the coast of Papua New Guinea, from 2005 to 2008. He was also the leader of the Bougainville People's C ...

was elected president, with Joseph Watawi selected by the House of Representatives as vice-president. A non-binding referendum for independence from Papua New Guinea was held in December 2019. This was in accordance with the terms of the Bougainville Peace Agreement, which requires such a referendum to be held by 2020. There were concerns that the referendum could result in violence due to unresolved tensions from the

Bougainville conflict The Bougainville conflict, also known as the Bougainville Civil War, was a multi-layered armed conflict fought from 1988 to 1998 in the North Solomons Province of Papua New Guinea (PNG) between PNG and the secessionist forces of the Bougainvill ...

. In this referendum, 98% of voters voted in favour of independence. Constitutional amendments proposed in February 2020, would see the Autonomous Bougainville Government renamed as the "Bougainville Constitutional Transitional Government".

References

{{Reflist

External links

Autonomous Bougainville Government

Autonomous Bougainville Government – Facebook feed
Government of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville

Government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...

Government of Papua New Guinea 2000 establishments in Oceania