Court order issued to warring parties in Hela to stop fighting

By CLIFFORD FAIPARIK
Hela police commander Chief Superintendent Martin Lakari, pictured, says a court order has been issued to two warring parties to stop tribal fighting that started four years ago.
Lakari said they would be hard on the tribes if they breached the order and continued fighting.
“The warring parties in the Tari-Pori electorate signed a peace mediation agreement to stop the fight that started in 2014 over the distributing of compensation payment for the Tari Airport redevelopment project,” Lakari said.
“The fight that went out of control had resulted in many lives being lost and permanent buildings, including health centres, classrooms and teachers’ houses, destroyed.
“The fight greatly affected the lives of innocent people in the province.”
Lakari said eight warring tribes involved in the fighting signed a pact in front of Tari Mayor Charles Tokala and officers from the provincial administration on Friday.
“There were so many lives lost which I can’t recall,” he said.
“All I know was that a total of 11 people were killed in the past two months after I had arrived here in February.”
Lakari said that he decided to work with the provincial peace and good order committee to solve the tribal conflict when he became the provincial commander.