Informal portrait of the Civilian Monitoring Rotation for the Peace Monitoring Group (PMG) aboard ...

Informal portrait of the Civilian Monitoring Rotation for the Peace Monitoring Group (PMG) aboard the HMAS Melville. Identified, left to right, back row: Steven Lyon (Department of Defence (Defence)); David Peebles (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT)), Paul Wilson (DFAT); Graham Wilson (Defence); Stanley Veitsman (DFAT). Front row: Beth Delaney (AUSAID); Cassie Lees (Defence); Naomi Mears (Defence); Patrick Foley (Defence); Katherine Elliot (AUSAID); Peter Davey (DFAT). Seated in front is Peta Hudson (DFAT). 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.