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Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and its offshore islands in Melanesia. It shares its only land border with Indonesia to the west and it is directly adjacent to Australia to the south and the Solomon Islands to the east. Its capital, located along its southeastern coast, is Port Moresby. The country is the world's third largest island country, with an area of 462,840 km2 (178,700 sq mi).
The Papua New Guinea Defence Force (PNGDF) is the military organisation responsible for the defence of Papua New Guinea. It originated from the Australian Army land forces of the territory of Papua New Guinea before independence, coming into being in January 1973 and having its antecedents in the Pacific Islands Regiment. The PNGDF is a small force, numbering around 3,600 personnel, and consists of a Land Element, an Air Element and a Maritime Element. It is a joint force tasked with defending Papua New Guinea and its territories against external attack, as well as having secondary functions including national-building and internal security tasks.
Bougainville, officially the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, is an autonomous region in Papua New Guinea. The largest island is Bougainville Island, while the region also includes Buka Island and a number of outlying islands and atolls. The current capital is Buka, situated on Buka Island.
Solomon Islands is a country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Melanesia, part of Oceania, to the northeast of Australia. It is directly adjacent to Papua New Guinea to the northwest, Australia to the southwest, New Caledonia and Vanuatu to the southeast, Fiji, Wallis and Futuna and Tuvalu to the east, Nauru and the Federated States of Micronesia to the north. It has a land area of 29,000 square kilometres (11,000 sq mi), and a population of approximately 700,000. Its capital, Honiara, is located on the largest island, Guadalcanal. The country takes its name from the wider area of the Solomon Islands (archipelago), which is a collection of Melanesian islands that also includes the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, but excludes the Santa Cruz Islands.
The Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA) was a secessionist group formed in 1988 by Bougainvilleans seeking independence from Papua New Guinea (PNG). The leader of the BRA was Francis Ona who led the BRA against the Papua New Guinea Defence Force during the violent 10 year conflict. Not all BRA members agreed to the Peace Treaty and boycotted it, and have held out in an official no-go zone, protected by members of the Meekamui Defence Force, currently commanded by Moses Pepino.
Bougainville, an autonomous region of Papua New Guinea (PNG), has been inhabited by humans for at least 29,000 years, according to artefacts found in Kilu Cave on Buka Island. The region is named after Bougainville Island, the largest island of the Solomon Islands archipelago, but also contains a number of smaller islands.
The Sandline affair was a political scandal that became one of the defining moments in the history of Papua New Guinea, and particularly the conflict in Bougainville. It brought down the government of Sir Julius Chan, and took Papua New Guinea to the verge of a military revolt. The event was named after Sandline International, a UK-based private military company force.
Jerry Singirok was the commander of the Papua New Guinea Defence Force throughout the Sandline affair of 1997.
The Royal Pacific Islands Regiment (RPIR) is an infantry regiment of the Papua New Guinea Defence Force (PNGDF). The regiment is descended from the Australian Army infantry battalions formed from native soldiers and Australian officers and non-commissioned officers in the territories of Papua and New Guinea during World War II to help fight against the Japanese. Disbanded after the war, the regiment was re-raised in 1951 as part of the Australian Army and continued to serve until Papua New Guinea gained its independence in 1975, when it became part of the PNGDF. Today, the RPIR consists of two battalions and has seen active service in Vanuatu, Bougainville and the Solomon Islands.
Francis Ona was a Bougainville secessionist leader who led an uprising against the Government of Papua New Guinea as part of the Bougainville Civil War. He and his followers were concerned about the environmental and social effects of the operation of the Panguna mine by Bougainville Copper, a subsidiary of Rio Tinto Group. On 17 May 1990, Ona declared the independence of the Republic of Me'ekamui. It was not recognised internationally. In May 2004 Ona proclaimed himself "King of Me'ekamui." While resisting the peace process and 2005 elections, Ona mostly stayed in a safe haven, where his BRA forces controlled territory. He died of malaria in his village.
Relationships between Fiji and Papua New Guinea became strained in November 2005 in the wake of reports that 9 Fijian soldiers believed to be mercenaries had reportedly entered the disputed territory of the Kingdom of Me'ekamui on Bougainville in Papua New Guinea illegally and were arming and training a private militia on the island of Bougainville.
The Republic of the North Solomons was an unrecognised state that purported to exist for about six months in what is now the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, Papua New Guinea (PNG). It involved:
a 'Unilateral Declaration of Independence of the Republic of North Solomons' and a failed bid for self-determination at the UN
John Giheno, was a Papua New Guinea politician and government minister. Giheno served as acting Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea from 27 March until 2 June 1997, following the resignation of then Prime Minister Julius Chan.
Belden Namah is a Papua New Guinean politician. Namah is a member of the National Parliament for the Papua New Guinea Party, and has represented Vanimo-Green River District since 2007. He served in the Cabinet from 2007 to 2010, and as Deputy Prime Minister from 2011 to 2012. In 2012, Namah became a member of the opposition. After retaining his seat in the 2022 election, he said that he would not rejoin the opposition.
The Bougainville conflict, also known as the Bougainville Civil War, was a multi-layered armed conflict fought from 1988 to 1998 in the North Solomons Province of Papua New Guinea (PNG) between PNG and the secessionist forces of the Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA), and between the BRA and other armed groups on Bougainville. The conflict was described by Bougainvillean President John Momis as the largest conflict in Oceania since the end of World War II in 1945, with an estimated 15,000–20,000 Bougainvilleans dead, although lower estimates place the toll at around 1,000–2,000.
APEC Papua New Guinea 2018 was the year-long hosting of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings in Papua New Guinea.
The Commander of the Papua New Guinea Defence Force is the highest-ranking military officer of in the Papua New Guinea Defence Force, who is responsible for maintaining the operational command of the military. The current commander is Brigadier general Gilbert Toropo.
HMPNGS Rabaul (01) was the first Pacific Forum patrol vessel to be commissioned, in May 1987. She is not the first vessel of the class to go out of service, because her sister ship from Fiji RFNS Kiro was wrecked in 2016. She arrived in Port Moresby, for disposal, on October 24, 2018. The vessel was named HMPNGS Tarangau.
Theodore Miriung was a politician and judge in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea. He was Premier of the Bougainville Transitional Government from April 1995 until his death.
Rochus Lokinap was a military officer in Papua New Guinea. He held the rank of brigadier general in the Papua New Guinea Defence Forces (PNGDF) and was the PNG Defence Commander, in March 1990 when Police Commissioner Paul Tobian tried to execute a coup against government of Rabbie Namaliu. According to the Canberra Times Lokinap and Ted Diro, then Minister of State Security, rallied forces to thwart the coup.
References
- 1 2 Niki Raath (1991-12-19). "Moral Support? Australia's respons to Papua New Guinea's internal security problems" (PDF). Parliamentary Research Service . Archived (PDF) from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2020-11-09.
Brigadier General Rochus Lokinap was reinstated he immediately and successfully demanded thereplacement of Dataona by Colonel Leo Nuia.
- 1 2 "PNG DEFENSE FORCE COMMANDER NUIA CRITICAL OF ARREST". Pacific Island Report. Port Moresby: Pacific Islands Development Program. 1997-07-31. Archived from the original on 2020-11-11. Retrieved 2020-11-11.
- ↑ Ron J. May; Nicole Haley (2014). "The Military in Papua New Guinea: A 'Culture of Instability' But No Coup" (PDF). Security Challenges . Vol. 10, no. 2. pp. 58, 59, 61, 62. Retrieved 2020-11-11.
Shortly after this, the acting PNGDF chief of staff, Colonel Leo Nuia, publicly rebuked the defence minister, saying he 'should refrain from making wild statements on matters affecting the operations of the soldiers and police' on Bougainville.