Bougainville president Joseph Kabui dead
June 7, 2008 - 9:38AM
Bougainville President Joseph Kabui has died of a suspected heart attack in a Buka hospital this morning, Papua New Guinea's National Broadcasting Corporation radio has reported.
Bougainville leaders have gathered in the capital Buka for an emergency meeting, NBC reported.
The death happened at approximately 4.10am.
Kabui, the Autonomous Bougainville Government leader, had been under intense pressure over a series of unpopular decisions in the region.
Kabui had travelled to Australia on several occasions for medical treatment, a friend in Buka told AAP.
"We'd told him he was working too much for his condition," he said.
Bougainville People's Congress president Kabui was declared president in Bougainville in June 2005.
Over the past six months Kabui had been facing numerous calls to resign and growing critics of his government.
The ABG has granted Invincible Resources, a Canadian mining company headed by Australian-born Lindsay Semple, 70 per cent access rights to the island's vast mineral resources.
But the deal has sparked wide concerns for Bougainville landowners, politicians and citizens.
Bougainville Vice-President John Tabinaman said he saw Kabui in good spirits yesterday afternoon.
"When I heard this morning I could not believe such could have happened," he told AAP.
"Life is such we can't predict and this is a big shock," he said.
"(Yesterday) he appeared to be OK, cheerful the way he was.
"This will be very hard to believe for the people of Bougainville," he said.
Tabinaman said Kabui had been receiving medical treatment in Brisbane hospitals.
"He always was on top of things. The man was capable of handling pressure," he said.
Opposition Leader Thomas Lugabi said it was a sad day for Bougainville, in particular the people in Panguna, central Bougainville.
"My family and I send condolences to his family and the people of central Bougainville, in particularly Panguna, where he was born," he said.
AAP
This story was found at:
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/06/07/1212259158723.html 