on 28. may 1975 , the interim provincial government in bougainville agreed to secede from papua new guinea. on 1 september, they issued the 'unilateral declaration of independence of the republic of north solomons '. they sought international recognition through the United Nations , but were unsuccessful. they also failed in an attempt to be united with the solomon islands . in early 1976, the bougainvillean government realised that they would have to accept papua new guinean sovereignty

language:

logo script:

body text:

probably

imported from:

english

spencerian

trade marks regd.

.

papua new guinea

in may 1990, papua new guinea imposed a blockade on bougainville. Francis Ona responded by unilaterally declaring independence. he set up the Bougainville Interim Government (BIG), but it had little power, and the island began to descend into anarchy.

since 1997, a ceasefire has largely held on the island, which culmintated in the signing of the Lincoln Agreement in january 1998. a bougainville provincial government of the same status as the other eighteen provinces of Papua New Guinea was established in january 1999