for Bougainville

Papua New Guinea

Hope dawns

The people of North Solomons province of Papua New Guinea will see a new Bougainville when a transitional govern ment is in place.

Prime Minister Sir Julius Chan met with the chairmen of interim authorities, chiefs around Buka and women leaders from Arawa to discuss the establishment of a transitional government.

Sir Julius says the transitional government is expected to be in place in June and will have the full backing of the national gov ernment. He says the transitional govern ment will also have representatives of the chiefs, women, youth and churches.

Discussions also centered on the forma tion of a new task force to work closely with the transitional government to co ordinate restoration services on Bougainville.

Responsible

reporting sought

Chief Ombudsman Simon Pentanu has called on the media to be more responsi ble in their reporting.

The comments followed recent media speculations that certain government ministers had been referred to the leader ship tribunal while others were likely to follow suit.

Pentanu said the requirement of the lead ership code has always been that if a leader is to be referred to, the leaders con cerned must be the first to know about it.

He refused to comment on specific cases before him but said in a statement later that it was not appropriate for the media to speculate on the matter.