Papua New Guinea's Minister for Foreign Affairs and Immigration, Hon. Rimbink Pato, LLB, OBE, MP said the decision to restrict access for Australians to Bougainville has been well received by people in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville.
He said while Papua New Guinea appreciates the Australian Government's support for development on Bougainville, this must treated as separate from managing sensitivities of the peace process and elections. "There are deep historical sensitivities about how the Bougainville crisis started particularly as this relates to Australia's involvement through these decades," said Foreign Minister Pato. "This is living memory for many people and there are concerns which the Australian Government must understand and respect. "The decision to ban Australian travel is easing fears and concerns that have been raised on Bougainville since Australia's unilateral attempt to place a Foreign Mission in Bougainville. "There are only two parties to the Peace Agreement; they are the National Government and the Bougainville people, and we are the parties that determine how implementation of peace building should processed. "Unwanted interference in this work will undermine the efforts of both the National Government and the Autonomous Bougainville Government. "The National Government is reassuring the people of Bougainville that old fears and concerns are not reopened." Foreign Minister Pato restated that the first formal discussion of the proposed foreign mission was when the Australian High Commissioner telephoned the Chief Secretary to the Government on the afternoon of 12 May 2015. He said this was after the details had been printed and provided to journalists at the Australian Budget lockup. The Foreign Minister further reiterated that sensitivity is the main issue relating to maintaining peace process above all other concerns.
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