Food for displaced settlers

By CLIFFORD FAIPARIK
ORO administrator Trevor Magei has provided pigs and garden food to displaced Binandere settlers as a peace and reconciliation offering after their homes were burnt down in an incident last week.
However, a Binandere leader and retired PNG Defence Force officer Col Walter Enuma said they would still refer Magei to the police and Ombudsman Commission.
“Despite Magei’s effort in the peace and reconciliation, he still be investigated under the criminal and leadership codes,” he said.
“The wheels of justice have started turning and nobody can stop it.”
Provincial police commander Chief Insp Daniel Yangen said Magei was accused of instigating a group of his supporters to attack the Double Cross settlement after his vehicle was stoned allegedly by five suspects from the settlement on the evening of Aug 22.
“Magei provided the gifts to the settlers at Double Cross after he was accused of mobilising friends to attack them last Tuesday, burning down 36 houses displacing 280 families,” he said.
Chief Insp Yangen said he understood the traditional gifts, which included 15 pigs and a cow, were given to settlers on Monday were for the peace and reconciliation ceremony and not for providing relief supplies to them.
“Magei reported the incident to the police the next day and we gave the settlers 24 hours to surrender the suspects,” he said.
“That 24 hours was to end last Tuesday at 4.06pm.
“But, while waiting for the surrender, Magei, without informing police, mobilised his people and raided the settlement, burning down 36 houses at around 10am.”
Chief Insp Yangen said a mob comprising youths from the settlements in Popondetta and some public servants painted their faces in black and were armed with guns.