Excitement Grips Bougainville On Eve Of Independence Vote

Flags touting independence flapped above the dusty streets of Bougainville Friday on the eve of a landmark referendum, as once rebel fighters voiced excitement they may achieve at the ballot box what they could not on the battlefield

Buka, Papua New Guinea, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 22nd Nov, 2019 ) :Flags touting independence flapped above the dusty streets of Bougainville Friday on the eve of a landmark referendum, as once rebel fighters voiced excitement they may achieve at the ballot box what they could not on the battlefield.

"I fired many bullets to protect my beloved Bougainville," said former rebel strongman Chris Uma as he looked ahead to Saturday's landmark vote on independence from Papua New Guinea.

"Now I have one last bullet remaining. This final bullet I'll fire it using my fingers... when I vote for Bougainville's independence." Since French explorer Louis de Bougainville arrived on this palm-fringed Melanesian archipelago more than two hundred years ago, control has passed from Germany to Australia to Japan to the United Nations to Papua New Guinea.

Beginning on Saturday, 207,000 Bougainvilleans will decide whether to now take control of their own affairs and become the world's newest nation.

The vote is a cornerstone of a 2001 peace deal that ended a brutal decade-long war between rebels, Papua New Guinea security forces and foreign mercenaries that killed 20,000 people and displaced thousands more.

There are few reliable public opinion polls, so a surprise vote in favour of autonomy within Papua New Guinea is possible, but supporters of full independence are expected to win handily.

"Our forefathers wanted to become independent from Papua New Guinea a long time ago, and that same thought is with us today," former fighter Peter Batson told AFP.

The 62-year-old echoed the sentiment of many on the streets of the capital Buka Town, where a campaign blackout is in place but expectations are clear.

"We want to get our independence and rule our own island," vendor Nathaniel Klina said.

Many Bougainvilleans feel a closer cultural affinity to the nearby Solomon Islands, with a strong provincial identity that differs from the tribal factions of other regions of Papua New Guinea.

T-shirts promoting independence -- depicting the distinctive men's amphorae-shaped headdress called the "upe", and branded "black is beautiful" in a nod to darker complexion of which Bougainvilleans identify -- were selling fast at the market.

In the old capital Arawa, "referendum fever" has locals distributing Bougainville flags to every household, a large stage has been erected for traditional dance and pigs are being killed in villages to mark the event.

"It's like Christmas," Arawa resident Nancy Tomiets said of the festivities.