Papua New Guinea, an island nation in the southwest Pacific comprising the eastern half of New Guinea and its surrounding islands, is a culturally and historically rich country which is often overlooked by travelers in favor of neighboring Indonesia and Australia.

One key component to the country’s diversity is the numerous ethnic groups which call the island nation home. While many of these groups have historically coexisted for generations in peace, the island of Bougainville, which is located at the far eastern edge of the country, has remained distinct from the rest of the nation, so much so that it is its own autonomous region rather than a province.

While a push for Bougainville’s independence has been ongoing since the 1980s , a recent referendum and presidential election may lead to negotiations between the autonomous region and the national government.

One Country, Many Cultures

Bougainville and Papua New Guinea are culturally and historically distinct. While both regions were at one point in time under German colonial rule, Papua New Guinea was later held by the United Kingdom, while Bougainvile was administered by Australia before being invaded by Japan in World War II.

While both Papua New Guinea and Bougainville hold Tok Pisin as the lingua franca and maintain English as a standard for government proceedings, the North and South Bougainville language families are commonly spoken within the autonomous region while the Trans-New Guinea language families are much more common throughout the rest of the country.

The differences between Papua New Guinea and Bougainville are also reflected in the composition of both regions’ governing bodies. Papua New Guinea is infamously one of three countries in the world without any female representatives in the national parliament. In trying to distance itself from this, Bougainville has reserved three seats within its regional legislature to be dedicated for women representatives. Two of these seats have been filled as of this article’s publication.

A Growing Push Toward Independence

The Bougainville independence movement dates back to the late 1980s following a series of conflicts between the region and the central government after immigration increased to the region in response to the discovery of vast copper reserves. This led to racial tensions between the native Bougainvilleans and the newly arrived Papuans and Australian nationals, coming to a boiling point in 1988 with the decadelong Bougainville civil war.

The Dec. 7, 2019, independence referendum was a result of the 2001 peace agreement which formally ended the civil war, the results of which were overwhelming in favor of the region’s independence. While the referendum was nonbinding, it did open the door for renewed negotiations between the autonomous region and Port Moresby.

“The essence of what our people want is still empowerment of a Bougainville government that can truly manage its own affairs,” then Bougainville President John Momis said in an August 2019 speech. “Just as we did when negotiating the peace agreement, the national government and Bougainville will have the rare privilege of developing something new.”

Should Bougainville gain independence, it likely will galvanize more support for other independence movements throughout Melanesia, the surrounding region of islands north of Australia. Protests and referendums for independence in New Caledonia and West Papua occurred throughout the late 2010s and are expected to continue in the coming years.

Recent Electoral Victory

Citizens of Bougainville elected former rebel military commander and Bougainville independence activist Ishmael Toroama as president of the region during the Sept. 23 election. While campaigning, Toroama proposed a two- to three-year timeframe for achieving the region’s independence, something which experts consider to be at best ambitious given that the referendum was nonbinding.

“We conducted a clean campaign, we did not give money to the voters and we did not intimidate any voters: people have used their God-given wisdom to vote for the right candidate,” Toroama said shortly after he was declared winner of the election. “I will stand up for independence in Bougainville … it is now time to work together.”

While it is unclear yet as to whether or not Toroama will be able to fully transition Bougainville from an autonomous region to a full-fledged country, he at the very least will be able to begin negotiations with the central government given the support he gained while campaigning as well as the results of the Dec. 7 referendum.