The president of Bougainville says several important issues need to be resolved ahead of a planned independence referendum.
John Momis has confirmed the referendum will be held in the Papua New Guinean autonomous region by 2020.
But he says Bougainvilleans must address issues like weapon disposal and good governance practices to ensure the referendum has a desirable outcome.
The right to hold a referendum on independence was included in the peace agreement finalised in 2000.
But parliament is yet to set a date for the vote.
Anthony Regan, from the Australian National University's Melanesia program, told Radio Australia's Pacific Beat there are several stumbling blocks.
These include simmering divisions over mining.
"The mining issues in Bougainville is what really kicked off the war there," he said.
"There was really deep unhappiness about the way that the revenue of the mining by Rio Tinto at Panguna was divided between the national government and Bougainville, and also about environmental and social impacts,"