The sheer number of different languages and cultures in Papua New Guinea -- up to 800 -- must owe something to the remarkable terrain.

The country is split into several islands and is fragmented by mountain ranges. So far from reach are parts of the country that the international troops monitoring the truce reported taking two days to travel just 15 miles through thick jungle.

Mineral riches

But the land is so rich in minerals, it is sometimes described as a mountain of gold floating on a sea of oil. It is partly this wealth which has led to Bougainville's struggle for independence.

The conflict began in the late 1980s as a local protest over environmental damage caused by the multi-million dollar Panguna copper mine, one of the biggest in the world. The mine was shut down by protesters, whose effort developed into a full scale demand for independence.

War and poverty

A self-styled revolutionary army then declared war on Papua New Guinea. Pro-independence groups waged a relentless guerrilla campaign against government troops on the island, and the loss of revenue from the copper mine left most of the island's population in poverty.

The country of four million people became independent from Australia in 1975, when a national assembly became the country's Parliament. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, represented by a governor-general.

New Zealand Foreign Affairs minister, Don McKinnon, said of the current peace process that the solution to the conflict would only be reached from within the country itself. Previous attempts at a settlement had come from a Western point of view.

Mr McKinnon added that it was important to give people time and space to talk through the issues, because decisions in the Pacific were made by consensus, not by a majority.
 

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