Papua New Guinea police in East New Britain have launched a 21-day operation to clamp down on community conflicts in the province.

Police operation camps have also been set up at conflict hotspots.

ENB provincial police commander Chief Inspector Januarius Vosivai said the aim of the operation was to ease tension to allow the next processes to start.

The Gelegele resettlement, Nangananga and Takubar are among other crime hotspots being closely monitored by police.

Chief Inspector Vosivai said the two weeks of the term 2 school holidays had been the peak of community fights in the province.

He said school-aged children — mostly boys — were involved in the confrontations in the communities.

“Community fights is fuelled by petty criminal activities and when people do not report such matters to authorities and take it upon themselves, it further escalates,” he said.

Collaborative efforts
Authorities and local leaders are taking collaborative efforts to restore peace as well as seeking long term resolutions to the conflicts.

Police response units have set up camps in the fighting zones and are monitoring the situation.

Meanwhile, authorities in the province have initiated a peace process to be staged at the Gelegele resettlement area in the Rabaul district today.

Community leaders at Gelegele have also urged youth to let the authorities deal with the matter while they refrain from instigating further violence.

Several meetings at the Kabiu local level government chamber in Rabaul had been held with each rival community convening to stabilise tension within the resettlement area.

“We are doing all we can to restore peace in our community, it is sad to see homes ransacked, houses burnt down and families fleeing for their lives,” a local leader said.

Republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

New Zealand police report that the number of people cited as uncontactable following Cyclone Gabrielle has dropped to eight — down from 13 on Friday night.

Some of those were people who, “for a variety of reasons, do not engage with authorities”, police said in a statement.

However, getting in touch with them remained a priority and all avenues were being explored to try and locate them.

Thousands had been reported as uncontactable after the cyclone caused widespread destruction across the North Island.

Monitoring crimes in storm-hit communities
Police said that in the 24 hours to 7pm on Saturday, 534 prevention activities had been carried out in the Eastern District, including reassurance patrols and proactive engagements with storm-hit communities.

Twenty-four people had been arrested for a variety of offences, including burglary, car theft, serious assault, and disorder.

Fourteen of the arrests were in Hawke’s Bay, police said, and 10 were in Tai Rāwhiti.

An investigation into an incident in which a police patrol car was damaged in Wairoa around 10.30pm last night was ongoing.

Police said a headlight on the patrol car was damaged after they responded to a breach of the peace in Churchill Avenue.

Three people were arrested when they attempted to leave the address and a firearm was seized, police said.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz