Bougainville - Papua New Guinea

May 2006
One of the most volatile and reclusive figures in PNG's recent history, Francis Ona has re-emerged from his mountain hideaway.
Ona is the man who created the secessionist Bougainville Revolutionary Army, or BRA, in 1989 originally to fight against the operations of the Panguna mining company which Ona believed was destroying the land and environment, and paying little or no compensation to the owners of the land. The Panguna Mine - then the largest copper mine in the world - was closed, and remains closed today. The BRA fought a savage civil war for independence against the PNG government during the 1990s.
Produced by ABC Australia
Distributed by Journeyman Pictures