Opposition to the Australian-backed mining interests of
Papua New Guinea in Bougainville grew after 1988 into a
full-fl edged independence movement led by the Bougainville
Revolutionary Army (BRA). War broke out in 1989 when
the BRA leader declared independence from Papua New
Guinea. Papua New Guinea responded with an economic
blockade around Bougainville to prevent supplies from
reaching the rebels, who salvaged World War II–era weapons
and ammunition to fi ght superior troops. In a decade of
fi ghting, Bougainville’s 200,000 people suffered huge losses,
with nearly 20,000 killed and 40,000 left homeless. A 1998
cease-fi re fi nally brought to an end the longest confl ict in the
Pacifi c since World War II. Bougainville remains a part of
Papua New Guinea but has been granted greater autonomy.
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