A former Papua New Guinea police commissioner and governor of New Ireland Governor, Paul Tohian, has died in Kavieng after an illness.
Mr Tohian was the commander of Bougainville operations at the beginning of the Bougainville crisis in 1987.
He was also a two-time parliamentarian, representing the people of New Ireland from 1992 to 2002.
After the introduction of the provincial government reforms in the 1990's , Mr Tohian became the first governor of the province and he held the position until he lost the elections in 2002.
