Briefing on Bougainville

Abstract

When an advance party from the New Zealand Defence Force arrived on the island of Bougainville, Papua New Guinea in late November, 1997, it might have been assumed that this fell into the pattern of contribution to peace-keeping New Zealand has followed since the end of the cold war and before that to United Nations' operations. New Zealanders had become used to the participation of New Zealand troops in such activities. However, the Bougainville operation, and the developments which preceded it, had the potential to affect New Zealand far more profoundly than other peace keeping efforts. Significant and direct New Zealand interests were at stake. That theme will be returned to. First, this paper will deal with some background on the conflict in Bougainville, the parties to the conflict, and the course of events over the last few years. Then it will give an account of the role New Zealand has played in trying to resolve the conflict and at the end seek to show how much is at stake for New Zealand.