Talks planned today on Bougainville assassination

Thursday, 6 July 2006, 9:00 pm
Press Release: Radio New Zealand International

Talks planned today on claimed Bougainville assassination plot delayed till tomorrow

A meeting scheduled for today between the president of the autonomous Papua New Guinea province of Bougainville and PNG’s mining minister over an alleged plot to assassinate the president, has been postponed.

A group of militants came forward last week to confess their involvement in the plot and implicated the mining minister, Sam Akoitai, saying he paid them 7-thousand US dollars and gave them weapons to carry out the killing.

Mr Akoitai has vehemently denied the allegations and has threatened a lawsuit against the ABG.

But he did agree to a meeting with the president, Joseph Kabui, to look at the evidence that supposedly linked him to the plot.

But a spokesperson for Mr Kabui says that meeting will now take place tomorrow, because Mr Akoitai had other pressing engagements today.

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