Informal portrait of civilian and Army members of the Peace Monitoring Group (PMG) at Manetai ...

Informal portrait of civilian and Army members of the Peace Monitoring Group (PMG) at Manetai Village, north of Arawa. Identified, left to right: Graham Wilson, Civilian Monitor, Monitoring Team Arawa (MT-A); Captain (Capt) Pete Niven, Headquarters (HQ) PMG, New Zealand Army; Capt Paul McCrohan, MT-A Australia; Naomi Mears, Civilian Monitor, MT-A; and Captain Grant Mason, HQ PMG, Australia. The LST was part of the Australian led Peace Monitoring Group (PMG). The PMG replaced the New Zealand led Truce Monitoring Group following the signing of a permanent ceasefire agreement on 30 April 1998, and remained in the country until 30 June 2003. The PMG helped build confidence in the peace process by facilitating meetings and distributing peace related information. A total of 5,000 unarmed military and civilian personnel from Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Vanuatu served on the PMG. The conflict in Bougainville was one of the most serious in the South Pacific region since the Second World War, with an estimated 15,000 deaths and up to 70,000 people in refugee or displaced persons camps. It started in 1989 and lasted until the truce agreement in July 1997, although it was nine months until a permanent ceasefire was agreed to and signed.