Peace agreements normally fail within five years. Bougainville is a lesson to us all | Bertie Ahern

Bougainvilleans will vote in an independence referendum this weekend, the result of a unique Melanesian process of reconciliation

Thirty years ago Bougainville lost 20,000 people in a brutal civil war that lasted almost a decade.

This week Bougainvilleans will go to the polls to vote on independence from Papua New Guinea, but in a very different mood – one of joy and celebration. Underlying this historic occasion is a resolve by all sides to honour the fallen, but never again return to conflict.

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from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2D4hqpf
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