Photo: Supplied/ Bougainville House of Representatives
A cabinet minister in Bougainville is furious with the Papua New Guinea Government deciding to set the threshold for a vote to decide whether or not to grant the autonomous region independence an absolute majority; instead of the previously agreed simple majority.
Last week the PNG Minister of Bougainville Affairs, Manaseh Makiba, made a long awaited, and welcomed, parliamentary statement on Bougainville's independence referendum, committing to tabling the document before the end of this year.
PNG MPs will be asked, in coming years, to vote on the independence question based on negotiations over the referendum outcome.
But Makiba angered Bougainville by announcing changes to the nature of that vote.
Bougainville's Minister of Independence Mission Implementation, Ezekiel Massatt, told RNZ Pacific's Don Wiseman what has upset him so much.
