Belief in sorcery, related killings rise unchecked in Enga

SORCERY-related killings and the belief in sorcery (sanguma) have increased markedly in Enga over the past 42 years, according to a missionary.
Anton Lutz is an American Lutheran church missionary trying to curb the practice in the province.
Enga provincial police commander George Kakas, who agreed with Lutz, said: “Enga still remains in the dark after 42 years of independence”.
Lutz told The National that sorcery was a relatively new phenomenon in Enga which had taken hold of the provincial psyche like wildfire.
“It’s really sad to see that it’s dragging the country backwards and it’s becoming worse,” he said.
“We need our leaders to say: This is wrong, this is inhumane, this is not the Papua New Guinean way.”
Lutz said his late father, who was a surgeon in Enga for 23 years, never once saw a sorcery-related torture or murder.
“He dealt with tribal fight injuries, broken bones and all those, but never torture,” he said.
“The new trend in Enga is that people believe that sanguma is coming into Enga from other parts of PNG.”