By: Vicky Baunke
MORE than 20 families are been left homeless with no proper shelter, food and clothes this Christmas and displaced from their communities as a result of a conflict among factions of 2 villages in the Agarabi LLG in Kainantu, Eastern Highlands Province.
Among other items destroyed include valuable properties, vehicles and houses burnt and food gardens destroyed while leaving many seriously wounded.
However, 2 killings that were made inside an SDA church has been strongly condemned by Eastern Highlands Provincial Police Commander Superintendent Michael Welly.
Mr Welly described the killing as barbaric, uncalled for and inhuman as a Christian country where a church is seen as place of worship and representing a place of communion with God and where Christian principles of love and peace are been shared.
PPC said police were outnumbered last Tuesday as more than 5 villages mobilised and attacked another village along the 7mile area of the Highlands highway in Kainantu.
Superintendent Welly said several houses were also burnt down and the main highway closed for several hours as the fight escalated to the road but was later cleared by police and open to the travelling public.
PPC Welly confirmed that the conflict rose as a result of dispute among ILG groups of the Ramu 2 project.
PPC Welly said MS units from Goroka have been deployed to control the situation which is now under control. He said instructions have been given to MS units to put up boundaries and those that cross over will be arrested by police.
Mr Welly is appealing to leaders of the Yauna alliance and Punano communities to not settle their conflicts through fighting but to settle their land disputes through court land processes as a civilised process and exercise restraint and not taking up arms as a solution to address the matter which through process.
PPC Welly also made a call on local leaders in the communities and the province to support police by increasing its capacity to better manage low and order problems at the districts where 90% of the manpower is stationed at the Headquarters in Goroka.
He said in order to increase police manpower in the districts there has to be support between stakeholders and the local governments to provide accommodation, infrastructure development of rural police station among other issues. He said this would also help to deal with problems at the district before escalating to bigger law and order issues in the future.
