This undated hand out picture released by Bougainville Referendum Commission on December 8, 2019 shows a young Upe man casting his vote in the Bougainville Referendum at the men's only polling station in Teau Bougainville, Papua New Guinea. - Polls on the Pacific island chain of Bougainville closed Saturday to end two weeks of voting in a historic referendum on independence from Papua New Guinea. (Photo by Jeremy MILLER / Bougainville Referendum Commission / AFP)
SYDNEY (Reuters) - The South Pacific islands of Bougainville have overwhelmingly voted to be independent from Papua New Guinea, the referendum commission said on Wednesday, in a historic poll that will embolden separatists as they start negotiating the terms of their sovereignty.
Almost 98% of the 181,067 votes cast backed independence in the non-binding poll that is part of a peace pact struck in the aftermath of a decade-long war between Bougainville's rebel fighters and PNG forces, which ended in 1998.
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