| Sports |
PNG way to end conflicts
TRIBAL fights have claimed more lives
than any other forms of violence in Papua New Guinea. As progress
and advances are made on many fronts, the same can be said for the
tribal fights where traditional forms of weapons have been
replaced with high-powered rifles. Solving these fights has also
become a difficult task for the authorities.
However, as the acting provincial police commander of Western
Highlands, I believe real and lasting peace can be achieved using
traditional governance methods. Papua New Guineans should
recognise the importance of our traditional settings and the laws
governing them.
Most of our citizens live in villages and only a minority live in
towns and cities but still have a home in their village. Villages
were organised in tribes and clans and had their own laws to
govern themselves. Before the Europeans colonised PNG, our
ancestors were organised and had social structure of leadership
and governance.
They had tribal boundaries and identities, owned land and
domesticated animals for food, hunted for food, and other
necessities of life. To protect their heritage, especially land,
they had a tribal “army” to fight against invaders. Tribal warfare
today in the Highlands is a continuation of traditional beliefs
which presented to villagers an opportunity to release their anger
and frustration.
However, the difference now is the number of casualties has
increased considerably, and the manner in which the victims were
killed has made reconciliation or peace ceremonies difficult,
though not impossible. PNG citizens, law-makers and law-enforcers
should not be driven away from who we really are and recognise the
strength we have as it will help us to resolve conflicts.
We must make an attempt to understand each village setting in any
tribal area and the nature of the conflicts before attempting to
resolve them. Once a root cause is identified, it must then be
approached in a manner that is acceptable in any trouble area.
This will more often result in the securing of lasting peace.
In contrast, lack of knowledge of the social organisation within
the tribal fight areas, the nature of the conflict and the
application of modern law enforcement tactics to force an end to
the conflict may have the opposite result. For a long time, tribal
fight areas were declared “fighting zones” and police went in hard
and fast, arresting the warriors. The police action would bring
peace but only for a short period.
History has shown that heavy-handed tactics by government
authorities applying foreign or introduced laws have not been
effective. Tribal fights can be a law and order problem but I
think they are more of a social problem. Criminals who steal, rob
or murder do so with intention and often after careful planning.
They have developed a criminal mind.
In tribal fights, it involves all the tribesmen who would plan for
it and mobilise themselves to go to war against their enemy for
what they believe is right. I refer to certain cases which were
resolved under my leadership as a police officer and which may
help others to do the same. The conflict between the Ramdi and
Kopi/ Nenga tribes in Gumanch claimed the lives of more than eight
people before it was finally resolved in 2005.
We managed to convince tribal leaders that enough people had died,
property destroyed and women and children had suffered. We told
them that the children must go to schools, mothers could move
about freely and men should attend to better things to sustain
their lives.
There was no formal ceremony or use of government force to stop
the fighting. The same approach was taken to end the fighting
between clans of the Dangle tribe in Kerowagi, Simbu, in September
the same year. Together with the church leaders, we listed the bad
consequences of the fighting, including the six lives lost, and
the clans promised to live together peacefully.
In September last year, we managed to bring peace to two tribes in
Southern Highlands which had been fighting each other for the past
12 years. We left behind our guns when we went to talk to the
tribes. We expressed our concern and talked about their potential
to be better people. We collected more than a hundred weapons and
some explosives from them throughout the Nipa Kutubu district.
The worst was the fighting in the Nebilyer Valley which has
claimed more than 70 lives. Although a formal peace agreement has
yet to be reached, fighting has stopped for several weeks. The
warring tribes have agreed to stop fighting, have cleared the
highway and are only maintaining their borders.
We approached the young men of the tribes, explaining to them that
they had a whole future ahead of them. We made regular visits,
constantly reminding the tribes that all of us have only one life.
We are confident that they will agree to lasting peace before the
coming elections.
Papua New Guineans are unique and unlike any other people in the
world. Most developed countries have some form of written
procedures on how to resolve problems and conflicts but they may
not be applicable in PNG due to our diverse cultures, languages,
village settings, values and beliefs.
Therefore, a consensus or by-partisan approach is essential to
involve everyone, including the local people. Another important
issue we must understand is the cultures, especially traditional
governance, and identify the root causes of conflicts before
attempting to resolve them.
So I am encouraging responsible law and justice sector agencies,
including and especially police, to employ traditional governance
methods in conflict solving. It is in the collective interest of
villagers and the authorities to explore ways in which traditional
governance can be strengthened to effectively address traditional
fights where they occur, whether in village or urban town
settings.
 
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