Bougainville Conflict

An Air Force C-130 Hercules transport landed at Buka, just north of Bougainville, on the first step towards bringing together the opposing parties in Bougainville’s protracted internal conflict. For the previous nine years a separatist insurgency led by the Bougainville Revolutionary Army had closed down the giant Panguna copper and gold mine and caused a constitutional crisis for the Papua New Guinea Government. The Air Force continued to play a key role in the peace process, bringing together the opposing factions at further talks and providing essential airlift for the Truce Monitoring Group that was subsequently established.