Papua New Guinea police say 10 people have been tragically killed after a series of violent “revenge killings” along the Laiagam-Sirunki Highway in the Highlands province of Enga.

The attacks, which occured last Friday and Monday, are believed to be connected to an unresolved death that took place in March earlier this year.

Police said that gunmen from the Mulapin tribe ambushed a vehicle packed with passengers from the Sakare clan near Tambitanis Health Centre in Sirunki on October 11 at 8am.

The vehicle, carrying a body, was fired upon in a surprise attack. A woman lost her life, several others sustained serious injuries, and the gunmen escaped.

An hour later on the same day, the Sakare clan retaliated by shooting the driver and his passenger from close range. They reached a nearby hospital but succumbed to their injuries on arrival.

The leadership of the Kunalin and Lyain tribes is urging restraint and for the clans not to resort to violence, police said.

They have also called for the immediate surrender of suspects from both the Mulapin and Sakare tribes to law enforcement.

Investigation into ‘root causes’
Assistant Police Commissioner Joseph Tondop, who is responsible for the state of emergency in Enga, is calling for an investigation into the root causes of the recent conflict.

“This sort of revenge killing is unheard of in the history of tribal conflicts in Enga Province where innocent people unrelated to the conflicts where killed,” he said.

“All tribal clans taking part in the conflicts (Sakars, Mulapian, Kunalins, Myom and people form Kulapi 4 in Porgera) are all under the scope and ordered to refrain from further escalating the situation.”

The investigative teams will start their work immediately, and individuals or groups found to be involved will be apprehended, he said.

“This task force is given strict orders to carry out a thorough investigation, leaving no stone unturned.”

RNZ Pacific’s correspondent in PNG, Scott Waide, said the public was frustrated that police were yet to make arrests.

He said police found it difficult to deal with the clans and arrest people who were armed.

Waide said people were reluctant to give up weapons because it gave them a sense of security in tribal conflicts.

“It is a difficult situation that both lawmakers, citizens and police are in. The longer this drags on and guns are in the hands of ordinary people, killing will continue.”

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

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

A deadly ambush unfolded in Enga province between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. last night, leaving multiple people dead after a bus was attacked by armed men.

Police confirmed to the Post-Courier that bodies were found both inside the bus and scattered in nearby bushland. Men and women attempting to flee the gunfire were gunned down before they could get far.

Witnesses reported that the bus, a public motor vehicle (PMV), was riddled with bullets during the ambush.

Blood and bodies lay strewn across the area when a distress call alerted police at Surunki station to the tragic scene.

The PMV was later escorted to Wabag General Hospital, where the bodies were removed. Hospital staff have warned that more victims may still arrive.

Local MP Aimos Akem attributed the deaths to escalating violence linked to ongoing conflict in Porgera, saying it continues to take a heavy toll on the people of Lagaip.

Republished from the PNG Post-Courier with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

It takes up to 6 km for women from Milampipi and Kaisia villages in the mountainous hinterlands of Papua New Guinea’s Nabak local government in Nawaeb district, Morobe province, to reach the nearest roads by foot.

For more than 40 years they have had to do this before they could catch a vehicle to sell their garden produce in the markets in Lae city 21km away.

For the women — especially mothers — the struggle is real. They have walked for six to seven hours, climbing steep rugged mountains, crossing dangerous fast flowing rivers with heavy loads of vegetables, bananas, taro and sweet potatoes to reach Situm or Hobu to get on a PMV (public motor vehicle).

November 7, 2021, is a day the villagers will never forget –– on that day, the first PMV truck nicknamed “Dignity” drove into the village for the first time to bring the mothers and their produce to markets.

That was made possible after the national government, through the Department of National Planning and Monitoring, with Nawaeb and Finschhafen districts allocating funds, initiated the construction of the Nawaeb-Finschhafen Highway this year.

The road will link rural villages in the two districts to the provincial capital, also enabling some of the best organic coffee to reach market.

One mother, Wangeng Akundi, was emotional and shedding tears of joy when she put her bilums (string bags) packed with garden foods and sako (vegetable) on the truck for the first time.

Walking for years with heavy loads
She says that for years, they had walked long distances with their heavy loads.

“Sometimes we also carry our babies on top of the loads to seek medical services in Situm or Lae,” she adds.

“We are thankful to Anutu (God) for the road access that has reached us and now we will just get on a PMV and travel to Lae for our marketing.”

John Kamsi, a person living with a disability, says it takes him longer to reach the main roads to seek medical services.

“I am very happy with the new road,” he said.

A mother of one, Sandra Yaling, says: “We’re very happy with the new road, because some of us put our lives and the lives of our children at risk many times just to get to the nearest road.

“The main things that we need are cooking oil, soap and salt.”

Real struggles for food
PMV owner Eric Piving, whose vehicle was the first to bring the women and children with their produce to Bumayong and Igam markets, says many times he felt sorry for the mothers.

They had to walk long distances with their foodstuffs to sell and meet their basic household needs.

“We’ve dreamed for a road into the villages and now it has happened,” he says.

He said many times people see them selling their produce at the markets, without knowing the real struggles they have to go through to bring those food items to the market.

“Since first the Lutheran missionaries came to Finschhafen and took the same route towards Nawaeb, then to parts of Morobe — the new highway should be named Miti Highway’, which means ‘God’s Word highway’),” Piving says.

“We thank the government and our local MPs for their support.”

Nawaeb MP Kennedy Wenge told the PNG Post-Courier that the District Development Authority allocated K100,000 (NZ$43,000) each year to support the new stretch of road from Hobu to Momolili.

K280 million allocated for road
“The Department of National Planning and Monitoring allocated K280 million (NZ$120 million) in 2020 and has continued funding the road that will connect Lae-Nawaeb and Finschhafen,” he says.

“I want our people to appreciate what the districts and the national government have committed and support the work. The Nawaeb to Kabwum road will also take shape once K100 million (NZ$43 million) funding is made available.”

Wenge says the villages also produce high tonnes of coffee and the road will assist them greatly in terms of accessing markets.

More than 2000 people from villages in Nawaeb will benefit from the road. Apart from road Wenge, says he is also ensuring maintenance on rural airstrips so people can transport their coffee and garden produce to the markets in Lae.

That is to support villagers gaining some income.

Republished with permission from the PNG Post-Courier.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz