§ Lord Brougham and Vauxasked Her Majesty's Government:
What recent developments there have been concerning Bougainville, Papua New Guinea.
The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (The Earl of Caithness)Following talks between the two parties in Honiara, representatives of the Papua New Guinea Government and from Bougainville signed an agreement in Honiara on 23rd January known as the Honiara Declaration. In the declaration the two sides agreed on a regime and timetable for the restoration of services and rehabilitation of Bougainville within the existing constitutional framework of Papua New Guinea. The main features of the agreement are:
deferral of discussion of the future political status of Bougainville;
the lifting of the blockade;
restoration of all government services on Bougainville;
creation of an interim legal authority and a task force, respectively to organise and carry out the restoration of services;
commitment by both parties to refrain from the use of weapons and arms to resolve the crisis;
provision for the establishment in Bougainville of a multinational supervisory team consisting of foreign military and policy personnel to monitor implementation of the declaration;
agreement by the Bougainville side to disarm its forces; and
the granting by the Papua New Guinea Government of an amnesty to the members of the Bougainville forces.
We welcome the Honiara agreement as a step towards the peaceful resolution of the Bougainville problem and hope it leads to the restoration of normality. The commitment of both sides will be essential if the agreement is to succeed.