New Zealand, Australia and other Pacific countries may be asked to help ensure there is no disturbance or sabotage of Bougainville's referendum process.
President of the autonomous Bougainville government, John Momis. Photo: RNZI
Bougainville is set to hold a referendum asking whether people want full independence from Papua New Guinea in June next year.
The referendum is the culmination of the Bougainville Peace Agreement which was signed in 2001 to formally end the ten year-long bloody civil war.
The President of Bougainville John Momis said the PNG national government is happy with Bougainville's plans.
"It's really just to make sure that the outcome of the referendum will not be affected, you know we must preserve the outcome. It must be seen to be fair and we don't want anyone to challenge the outcome of the referendum. So we have got to take every measure to ensure there is no disturbance or anybody trying to sabotage the vote."
A New Zealand-led unarmed truce monitoring contingent, called the TMG, that included soldiers from Fiji, Vanuatu, Australia and Tonga was sent to Bougainvillle in 1998 after the signing a year before of a truce at Burnham near Christchurch.
The contingent was later superseded by the similarly unarmed Australian led Peace Monitoring Group, which remained in the region until the signing of the Bougainville Peace Agreement in 2001.