Members of the PNG Defence Force and police will never set foot on Bougainville again, says Prime Minister James Marape.
He was asked by TVNZ in New Zealand last week if he expected any need in future to deploy PNG soldiers to Bougainville again.
“We will put it into law in our Constitution: Never again will the PNG Defence Force set foot on Bougainville (and) never again will our police step on Bougainville,” Marape said.
“The scars are too big. I don’t want those scars to re-open again.”
Marape parried all attempts to get him to make a commitment, personal or on behalf of the Government, on a date for ratification of the 2019 referendum which voted 97 percent in favour of outright independence for Bougainville.
“Parliament has not been provided with an opportunity to deal with the report,” Marape said when asked why Parliament had not ratified the report.
He said the referendum report was still with the executive government which was going through a process of negotiation with the Autonomous Bougainville Government.
Marape said that all administrative powers, including those in control of the economy, had been devolved to the autonomous government and that the future was basically in Bougainville hands.
He said he would not be drawn again into making any commitment on the September 2027 deadline set by Bougainville leaders for a decision on independence for Bougainville.
As to whether independence for Bougainville might trigger similar separatist tendencies around PNG, Marape said that PNG was a very diverse land with similar tendencies but they had not broken out into open moves.
