The president of Bougainville, John Momis, says the Papua New Guinea prime minister is ill-informed and misleading in his statements on the region's independence referendum.
Earlier this week Peter O'Neill told parliament that the referendum may not go ahead.
Don Wiseman has more.
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Over 20,000 people died in the Bougainville civil war and many disappeared without being accounted for. Photo: International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)