A new newspaper was launched on Bougainville today coinciding with the historic first elections since last year’s non-binding referendum that voted a resounding 98 percent “yes” for independence.

The birth of the paper, called The Bougainvillean, was accompanied by an invitation on its Facebook page to “become part of history – share your photos with the Bougainvillean to see if you can make it onto our pages with each issue we release”.

The Facebook page, launched in February, already has more than 5500 followers.

The paper pledges to “bridge the information gap in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville with news and information”.

Editor is Calvin Caspar and the owner is Arthur Hannett, son of former Premier Leo Hannett.

The front page lead story was devoted to the plans of retiring President John Momis.