Joseph Kabui, the president of the Bourgainville autonoous provincial government, Papua New Guinea was reported to have passed away early Saturday, June 7.

The AFP news service reported that the Australian Foreign Minister Stepehn Smith had said that Kabui died from a suspected heart attack at a hospital in the provincial capital Buka.

Stephen Smith paid tribute to Joseph Kabui, as the person responsible for restoring peace to Bougainville.

"President Kabui played a key role in restoring Bougainville to peace following the bitter conflict on the island from 1989 to 1997," said Stephen.

Joseph Kabui was the premier of Bougainville until the conflict broke out in 1989, then he became the leading figure in the pro-secessionist Bougainville interim government, Smith said.

"From the mid-1990s, however, he committed himself to restoring Bougainville to peace and to rebuilding its social cohesion and economy after years of violence and destruction," said Stephen.

Kabui headed the Bougainville Autonomous Government, which took power in June 2005 under a UN-sponsored process that ended the insurgency against PNG rule in which more than 10,000 people died.

"As president of Bougainville, he had pursued a policy of peace by peaceful means' in his efforts to consolidate the achievements of the peace process and lay a sound foundation for the future of the province," Stephen Smith said.

Stephen said that Kabui was a seminarian who later worked as a trade union research officer before entering politics.