Talks between Papua New Guinea and the breakaway island of Bougainville have resulted in proposals for an amnesty allowing many revolutionaries to return home.

Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister, Bill Skate, told the peace conference that his government would allow those exiled by the war to return to Bougainville.

The amnesty offer formed part of a package of immediate measures proposed by Port Moresby before the 230 delegates -- the third round of such peace talks in New Zealand.

The negotiations are scheduled to conclude on Friday and are widely expected to lead to a formal ceasefire for Bougainville, ending nine years of conflict.

Both Mr Skate and the senior rebel leader at the talks, Joseph Kabui, expressed a desire to bring the peace process back under local control by holding all future talks on the island.

"I must stress that we cannot expect our neighbours and friends -- Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Vanuatu -- to keep supporting indefinitely what we can and should do ourselves," Mr Skate said in his address.

Joseph Kabui said the Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA) expected consitutional change and wanted a pledge of further negotiations to discuss Bougainville's political status.

"We are here to undertake substantive negotiation on those processes of change that will have to take place in the forthcoming months and years," he said.

The talks are being held at Lincoln University near Christchurch, New Zealand, where the prime minister, Jenny Shipley, said there were high hopes of success.

Both New Zealand and Australia are helping to host and fund the talks and are also involved in truce monitoring activities on the island.

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer was due to arrive at the university campus later on Wednesday evening to lend support to the talks.

Exiled islanders may return

Skate said the moves would allow Martin Miriori, leader of the BRA, who lives in The Hague in the Netherlands, to return to the island.

Other rebel leaders and thousands of displaced Bougainvilleans living in the Solomon Islands would also be allowed back.

Skate said Papua New Guinea was also prepared to consider giving pardons to those serving jail sentences for offences relating to the crisis, and to issue passports to Bougainvilleans who need them to travel.

The government also confirmed an earlier decision to cancel all bounties placed on the heads of several rebel leaders including Francis Ona, leader of BRA affiliate the Bougainville Interim Government (BIG), and BRA commander Sam Kauona.

Talks could end decade of war

At the talks along with government and rebel leaders are representatives of other South Pacific countries, anxious to see an end to a conflict that has claimed 20,000 lives.

Hostilities began after landowners revolted in 1988 over damage caused by the huge Australian-owned Panguna copper mine on the island and royalties received from it.

A guerrilla war closed the mine in May 1989 and led to a military blockade which crippled the island.

Two rounds of talks held in Christchurch last year led to an interim truce in the nine-year conflict, which is being enforced by a New Zealand-led multinational Truce Monitoring Group (TMG) of unarmed military personnel.
 

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