The President elect of Bougainville, Joseph Kabui, says the Papua New Guinea province is united at long last and the inauguration of his government today is the chance to celebrate that.
The autonomous government of Bougainville is being sworn in a ceremony near Buka this morning, before a crowd of dignitaries, including the PNG Prime Minister, Sir Michael Somare, and most of his Cabinet.
The Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Don McKinnon, is also attending, along with overseas based Bougainville activists, such as Martin Miriori, who had sought asylum in the Netherlands.
Mr Kabui says the return of people like Mr Miriori reinforces that the province has achieved what it has been striving for - the right to govern itself.
"We can now rightly say that the times of war, when Bougauinville was in the dark ages, if I may call it that way, are in the past, and we can only look for the better positive progress of Bougainville."
