Port Moresby | Tribal clashes have left at least 19 people dead in central Papua New Guinea in recent days, including seven people killed by a grenade, authorities said on Monday.
They said the conflict was over land ownership issues in the Eastern Highlands province, near Kainantu.
Provincial police commander Michael Welly explained that two clans were in the town last Thursday to sign an agreement to settle their dispute when a fight between two women degenerated into a large-scale clash that left 12 dead.
Seven other people died in a grenade explosion the next day, before houses were set on fire in retaliation, according to the “Post Courier”.
Mr. Welly said the tribes had stopped fighting with the deployment of police forces from other provinces.
“We hope they will lay down their arms, but it could take time,” he told AFP.
Papua Police Chief David Manning has admitted that the illegal circulation of firearms in the country is a challenge.
“The first thing we did is restore order to prevent more criminal actions in Kainantu,” he told AFP.
Tribal violence is a scourge in the center of the country, which has been exacerbated by the increasing circulation of automatic weapons.
At least 24 people, including children and pregnant women, were killed in the summer of 2019 in a three-day bout of violence in Hela province, a rugged region in the west of the country, by rival tribes who were fighting each other. apparently control of the gold buried in these lands rich in raw materials.