Bougainville is a challenging feast for the senses and bustles with a raw energy of a place that is ready to claim its independence and reopen to the world.
Australian boutique tour operator Crooked Compass is paving the way for tourism in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville and is inviting a small group of adventurous Australians to be the first foreign travellers to attend a local festival.
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Last week, Ishmael Toroama, the new president of the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) in Papua New Guinea (PNG), made an intriguing visit to the southern district of Siwai. His visit was designed to continue the work of reconciliation within Bougainville as he paves the way toward independence, after the people of the region overwhelmingly voted to secede from PNG in a 2019 referendum. With this in mind, Toroama met with an unusual figure, a man named Noah Musingku, or as he prefers to be called, King David Peii II.
Musingku is the self-declared ruler of the twin kingdoms of Papaala and Me’ekamui. Yet rather than a disgruntled local chieftain who has attempted to form his own micro-state in opposition to the recognized governments in Bougainville and in PNG, Musingku is something more complex. He is the CEO of a pyramid scheme called U-Vistract, a ruse that has defrauded millions of dollars from people in PNG, the Solomon Islands, and Fiji. Musingku has used