ABC team ordered out of Bougainville

Heavily armed Papua New Guinea soldiers on October 17 forced an Australian Broadcasting Corporation television news crew to leave Bougainville at gunpoint. The crew, which included the well-known Port Moresby-based reporter Sean Dorney, had earlier been given permission to enter Bougainville by Prime Minister Paias Wingti.

The news crew was to enter northern Bougainville, which is occupied by PNG troops, from Buka Island, then travel to Arawa, which is controlled by the Bougainville Revolutionary Army. Despite the approval of the visit from the highest level of PNG's government, at least 10 soldiers bailed up the newspeople in Wakunai village and ordered them to leave the island.

The incident again raises questions about who in PNG is actually in charge of Bougainville policy. It also emphasises how determined the PNG Defence Force is to maintain its crippling blockade of Bougainville.

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