There are plans to stage a rally in Port Moresby this weekend to fight the Papua New Guinea government's plans to build a major road link through the southern provinces into the Highlands.
Public transport, buses, Papua New Guinea. Photo: RNZI / Johnny Blades
The southern region is known as Papua as opposed to New Guinea to the north of the Owen Stanley Ranges.
The Post Courier reports that Dame Josephine Abaijah, who led the push for the independence of this region when PNG was set up in 1975, is keen to revive her Papua Besena movement to fight the push for the national highway.
As our correspondent Todagia Kelola reports Dame Josephine is working with the Governors of Central and Milne Bay Provinces, Kila Haoda and Titus Philemon.
"They are concerned that the construction of this trans-islands highway from Port Moresby, connecting the Highlands region and the Momase region, will not benefit the Papua region people in that it will just bring more problems for them."