Tribal violence escalating with inflow of mercenaries and computerized weapons into the strained island nation.
A gang killed a minimum of 26 males, ladies and kids in an assault on three distant villages in Papua New Guinea’s north, police mentioned.
The gang, which struck earlier this month, consisted of “30 younger males”, based on James Baugen, a provincial police commander in East Sepik province. “It was a really horrible factor,” he instructed the Australian Broadcasting Company (ABC) on Friday,
“A number of the our bodies left within the evening had been taken by crocodiles into the swamp. We solely noticed the place the place they had been killed. There have been heads chopped off,” Baugen instructed ABC.
All the homes within the villages had been burned and the remaining villagers had been sheltering at a police station, too scared to call the perpetrators. The attackers had been hiding and there have been no arrests but, he added.
Volker Turk, the United Nations excessive commissioner for human rights, had confirmed that the assaults occurred on July 16 and July 18 and had been motivated by “a dispute over land and lake possession and consumer rights”.
Turk mentioned in a press release on Wednesday that the dying toll might surpass 50 as authorities seek for lacking individuals. Sixteen kids had been killed within the assault, he added, and greater than 200 villagers had fled as their houses had been torched.
“I’m horrified by the stunning eruption of lethal violence in Papua New Guinea,” mentioned the UN rights chief, calling on the authorities “to conduct immediate, neutral and clear investigations and to make sure these accountable are held to account”.
Cycle of violence
Papua New Guinea, dwelling to a whole lot of tribes and languages, has a protracted historical past of tribal warfare. However an inflow of mercenaries and computerized weapons has infected the cycle of violence.
In latest many years, the nation’s inhabitants has greater than doubled, inserting rising pressure on land and sources, and stoking deepening tribal rivalries.
In February, Turk’s workplace had known as on the South Pacific island nation to handle the basis causes of the unrest after dozens had been killed in a conflict between rival tribes.
Not less than 26 males had been killed in an ambush within the Enga province in February. Eight individuals had been killed and 30 houses torched in preventing in the identical area in Could.
Allan Hen, the governor of East Sepik, instructed ABC that violence within the nation has been getting worse over the previous 10 years.
“Over the past 10 years or so, if a criminal offense is dedicated, investigations hardly end in arrest,” he mentioned. Even when they’re arrested, it’s tough to go to court docket and go to jail. That’s giving lawbreakers extra braveness to do the unsuitable factor.”
