Ialibu tribe to change name to identify with origins

THE Ekerepa tribesmen from Ialibu district, Southern Highlands province, will change the name of their tribe to Korape Ekai.
This was announced by village leader and businessman Rodney Kalunda during a compensation payment at Muli village near the border of Erave district last month.
The Ekerepa tribesmen compensated the people from Yombi, some 10km away from Ialibu station, for the death of a woman killed by her husband from the Ekerepa tribe.
The incident happened last April in Lae, Morobe province.
The tribe will be known as Korape Ekai, the name of a small mountain near Mt Ialibu where their ancestors originated.
Mr Kalunda told a big crowd during the compensation ceremony that the tribesmen used to live on the hilltop of Korape but after their ancestors fought over the cassowary’s stomach almost 100 years ago, their ancestors migrated to Wabisumi, Ekerepa, Kuare, Pupita and Balowe in Kagua, Moiya (Pangia), Ponegama, Muli, Maril (Ialibu) and Gitepoi in Tambul district Western Highlands province and settled there.
He said sometime next year, he and others would organise a meeting where all Ekerepa tribesmen living in different parts of the province and in Western Highlands province would gather and announce the new name of their tribe.
Mr Kalunda said the unity of the Ekerepa tribesmen was for social, economic and political benefits.