Joseph Kabui

Who was Joseph Kabui?

Joseph Canisius Kabui was a secessionist leader and the first President of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, off the coast of Papua New Guinea, from 2005 to 2008. He was also the leader of the Bougainville People's Congress.

Kabui was a commander in the Bougainville Revolutionary Army during the war in Bougainville in the 1990s. In June 2005, after the island gained autonomy within Papua New Guinea, he was elected as President of Bougainville by a large majority, winning 38,000 out of 69,385 votes.

While in office, he granted a Canadian company, Invincible Resources, access rights to 70% of Bougainville's mineral resources, and he was widely criticized for this decision. This was announced in 2008 with no prior discussion in Parliament, and shortly before Kabui's death it was expected that a motion of no-confidence would be presented against him. In an interview shortly before his death, he said that his dream was "to see Bougainville [become] a Kuwait of the Pacific".

Kabui went to Brisbane for medical treatment prior to his sudden death on 7 June 2008 at a hospital in Buka.