BOUGAINVILLE Peace Monitors helped save the life of a young woman from the mountain village of Togarau while supporting the recent weapon disposal talks between the island's former warring factions.

Four members of the PMG deployed to the remote village west of Wakunai to assist in the successful meeting.

Cpl Trev Hollis, 1 CSU, said a local midwife approached his team part-way through the discussions asking for assistance from the PMG.

"She said she had a 17-year-old girl who was going in to labour but had massive infections from a severe case of mastitis," Cpl Hollis said.

"We put her in touch with a PMG nurse through the radio and between them they decided the lady was in far worse condition than previously thought."

Cpl Hollis said the remoteness of the village and the atrocious roads in the area made moving the lady by vehicle almost impossible.

"Basically they thought the road trip would have killed her so we organised a Huey to evacuate her to Buka hospital.

"Unfortunately, the same road led to the LZ we were using so we decided using and alternate pad would be safer."

The last-minute decision to change LZs meant Cpl Hollis and another PMG member Cpl Chris Welch split from the talks and secured the LZ.

"Some of the local kids showed us a short-cut down this really steep hill so we took off down the track through the jungle and arrived at the same time as the patient.

"The Huey arrived about two minutes later so we helped load the lady and they took off for Buka."

A few hours after arriving at Buka, the lady gave birth to a baby girl.

Cpl Hollis said hearing the lady and baby were OK was the happiest moment of his tour.

"When we saw her she was really crook and just sort of groaned as we moved her."

The PMG's response may also have assisted in the successful out come of the disposal talks.

Many of the former combatants in the area had little exposure to the peace monitors before the talks and the activities of the four-man team, particularly the two soldiers, made a very good impression.

"We were playing soccer with the kids and helping out around the place - I don't think they had seen that side of the PMG before.

"Then when they found at that the lady and her baby had survived it was like a breath of fresh air for the talks - everyone thought she was going to die."

Health authorities in Buka expect the young woman and her new child would return home within a fortnight.

By CAPT Jason Logue