Bougainville Independence Movement (BIM) was a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

in the

Autonomous Region of Bougainville In developmental psychology and morality, moral, political, and bioethics, bioethical philosophy, autonomy is the capacity to make an informed, uncoerced decision. Autonomous organizations or institutions are independent or self-governing. Auto ...

, of eastern

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

. The party's creation was announced on 6 April 2005 by

James Tanis James Tanis (born 1965?"Un ancien sécessionniste élu ...

, who invited rebel leader

Francis Ona Francis Ona (15 February 1953 – 24 July 2005) was the Supreme Commander of the Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA) during the 19881998 Bougainville conflict. The war began when Ona "went bush" and began organising acts of industrial sabota ...

to lead the group. Tanis had been the Bougainville Peace Minister and vice-president of the

Bougainville People's Congress The Bougainville People's Congress was a pro-independence organisation and later political party in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, Papua New Guinea. History It was established in the late 1990s as a representative body during the Bougain ...

. Tanis stated he wanted the party to represent the "independence aspirations of the Bougainville people". He finished third in the presidential election, behind Joseph Kabui and

John Momis John Momis (born 3 March 1942) is a Bougainvillean politician who served as the President of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, President of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville in Papua New Guinea between 2010 and 2020. Momis served as ...

. Tanis won the 2008 presidential by-election following Kabui's death, serving under the BIM banner. He was defeated at the 2010 election. Tanis subsequently worked for the government as a senior public servant, and the party did not contest the 2015 election. In the

2019 Bougainvillean independence referendum A non-binding independence referendum was held in Bougainville, an autonomous region of Papua New Guinea, between 23 November and 7 December 2019. The referendum question presented a choice between greater autonomy within Papua New Guinea and ...

, 98% of the voters supported independence.

References

Political parties in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville Separatism in Papua New Guinea 2005 establishments in Papua New Guinea Political parties established in 2005 {{PapuaNewGuinea-party-stub