Peace returns to Morobe communities

By PISAI GUMAR
MEMORIES of the ghastly murders eight years ago returned to my mind as I watched two Morobe MPs, Sam Basil (Bulolo) and Ross Seymour (Huon Gulf) sign the testimony to restore peace amongst Labu Tale and Bomatu villagers.
Basil and Seymour signed a memorandum of agreement symbolising everlasting peace to unite the communities, ending enmity over land boundaries that has resulted in six deaths and destruction to homes.
I recall being part of a team that uncovered the grave of one of the six killed in the land dispute.
With my nose covered in a mask, camera on hand, I stood at the edge of a hole, capturing what was unfolding at the burial site under the young Bobo tree behind a bamboo patch in the forest.
The burial site seemed to me the boundary bordering Bomatu and Tale villages. We were exhuming the male corpse a week after Nov 29, 2009, when the incident occurred.
As a new cadet at The National then, my eyes felt a haze that confused the mind to clearly recognise the sole and toes of a human foot being unearthed; it was my first experience ever of exhuming a human corpse.
I leaned at the edge of three-feet hole in which late Aiyus Morris was buried as my camera lens kept flashing in case the coroner would request a photo exhibit.
The Angau Memorial Hospital mortuary supervisor and Dr Kobby Bomario were leading the exhumation and investigations as police rural patrol team leader Sgt Tanikepe leaned on the other edge.
Police officers and locals were dispatched in the forest to continue the search upstream to locate the burial site of Morris’ wife Lakele Koneli Aima but to no avail.
Peter, the mortuary attendant is an expert who had been attending and caring for different cases whose hands cunningly handled the case smoothly.
Dr Bomario and the police investigation concurred that a left-hander attacked from the back landing the knife at the left side of the neck.
Later, joints were dislocated, folded together with the whole body, packed into the fronds of a bush palm, fastened with bush twines and buried head first.
Peter stretched the corpse on a tarpaulin, cleansed the skin and wounds with ointments as Bomario investigated further, measuring depths and lengths of wounds and took notes.
After Bomario was satisfied, they covered and corpse, placed it gently in one of the two coffins and carried it home while the other was used few days later after the corpse of the wife was uncovered.
Seymour and Basil cemented the peace agreement that also included community and church leaders, with two coconuts being planted on Jan 14, 2017 at Pigwa village, Maus Buang bordering Labu and Busamang.
Various church and community leaders and government officials have played a big role in bringing about peace after the tragic incidents of 2009.
The signed MOA will be at the respective district offices as a permanent reminder to the officers and the villagers involved should there be any future incident that may threaten peace among the communities. And the coconut, if matured, will also bear witness to the peace accord as it sways to the northeasterly wind along the Salamaua coastline and the morning and evening breeze from Sugar Loaf range.
According to former kiap Brian Mogu, the MOA on Jan 14, 2017 would be respected as a new chapter inscribed on the hearts and minds of young Labus and Bomatus as three similar attempts to restore peace in the 1980s and in 1998 had proven unsuccessful.
This new chapter set on the memory of the loss of six lives, would chart a new fruitful destiny for the communities.
Amongst the six dead was the couple, Aiyus Morris, a New Irelander married to local woman Lakele Koneli Aima who left behind three sons.
“Six human lives were lost for nothing as we will eat pigs and cows and be happy while the spirits of those six people will watch us doing a mockery of them,” Basil reminded the people.
“Therefore, a new destiny needs to be crafted on the basis of respect for human life, love, care and sharing together in peace and harmony.
“The harmony initiated means an end to land disputes and fear.
“This gives a new lease of life and freedom to access services whilst restoring unity, respect and trust amongst Labus and Bomatus.”
The basis of the MoA was centered on point 4.1: Labu Tale who were displaced at Pigwa hamlet can resettle at will without fear and intimidation. 4.2: That any future issues regarding Bomatu settlement land area be channeled through appropriate authorities from Bulolo and Huon Gulf administrations.
The communities swapped K15,000 in cash and additional K10,000 (K5000 each) provided by Governor Kelly Naru.
Garden food, store goods, more than 10 pigs and four cows costing an estimated K30,000 were also exchanged.
The respect to human dignity unites different culturally varying lineages from the mountains and coastlines since early 1920s in harmony.
However, the ripples of population growth, migration and socio-economy opportunities threaten and question customary land user rights and affects permission to settle, land acquisition and ownership.
Seymour, Basil, deputy provincial administrator Robin Bazinuc and presidents Michael Poane (Wampar), Philemon Tomala (Salamaua), Otti Bagiro (Morobe), church and village leaders and families all appealed for everlasting peace.
National Fisheries Authority executive director John Kasu also witnessed the peace ceremony on Jan 14.
“Everlasting peace can only be achieved when a person realises God’s image in another person and thus Heaven has witnessed the signing of this MOA for peace, be mindful,” Bazinuc said.
Basil also urged Morobe provincial government to create a provincial land mitigation process team comprised of land mediators and government officers from nine districts to devise mechanisms to settle such situations amicably.
The team, Basil said, would be tasked to move swiftly into areas experiencing land disputes to stabilise situations, mediate and determine how issues should be resolved.