Francis Ona

Francis Ona (15 February 1953 – 24 July 2005) was a Bougainvillean separatist who founded the Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA) in 1998. With Ona as Supreme Commander, the BRA fought the government of Papua New Guinea (PNG) in the Bougainville conflict.

Ona started working at the Panguna mine in 1979 but grew to resent his employers, who he alleged exploited the land with little benefit to customary landowners such as himself. The Bougainville conflict began after Ona started the BRA in 1988. It launched attacks to sabotage the mine before declaring Bougainville's independence from PNG in 1989. After the police and the army failed to defeat the guerrillas, the government withdrew from Bougainville in 1990 and the Panguna mine was abandoned.

Ona set up the Bougainville Interim Government (BIG) and appointed himself president. However, Ona fell out with other BRA factions and a protracted civil war began on Bougainville, mainly among tribal lines. PNG forces re-entered Bougainville later in 1990, slowly retaking the island and negotiating with BRA moderates. The conflict ended with a 1998 ceasefire and a 2001 peace agreement that led to the creation of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville (ABG). Refusing to disarm or recognize the ABG, Ona's faction split from the BRA and retreated into a 'no-go zone' around the mine, where Ona died in 2005.