Papua New Guinea hails peace deal

The Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, Bill Skate, has welcomed an agreement with rebels on Bougainville island to extend an existing truce so that a permanent settlement can be negotiated.

Mr Skate said the latest accord, reached at talks in New Zealand, would bring reconciliation and peace.

Under the agreement, there will be a gradual withdrawal of government troops and the United Nations will be asked to extend its ceasefire monitoring.

A correspondent for the BBC in New Zealand says, however, that the central issue of sovereignty over the mineral-rich territory of Bougainville remains unresolved.

The conflict -- in which several thousand people are reported to have been killed -- escalated into violence in early 1989 as part of a long-running dispute over the earnings and environmental impact of an Australian-owned copper mine on Bougainville.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service