17 Feb 2014

Bougainville rebel faction joins PNG security debate

4:40 pm on 17 February 2014

A senior member of the rebel Me'ekamui Defence Force has met the president of the autonomous Papua New Guinea province of Bougainville, John Momis, to discuss law and order issues.

The Post Courier reports Panguna based Steven Ona, who is second in command of the Me'ekamui Defence Force, travelled to Buka last week to speak about setting up a region-wide civilian security force.

Mr Ona told the paper the recent visit to Panguna by Mr Momis and the PNG prime minister, Peter O'Neill, had inspired the Panguna people to open up to the rest of Bougainville.

The historic visit also motivated his people to clean up their backyard.

He says they now plan to train youths as security guards to help maintain the rule of law throughout the region.

Mr Ona says there are all kinds of law and order issues and youth are the main culprits.

He says the force would assist the police service which is not as strong as it could be.