Leaders urged to help stop Chimbu violence

By ZACHERY PER
CHIMBU provincial police commander Supt Augustine Wampe is seeking the help of election candidates and tribal leaders to stop the violence in Dom,  Gumine district, Chimbu.
He has urged Gumine MP Lucas Dekena and other candidates – Joe Korane, Rodney Teine Maine and Joe Ami – and community leaders to attend a meeting in his office in an effort to curb inter-tribal violence that has claimed several lives and seen serious injuries.
 “I call on them to come to my office for a round-table conference to find the best solution to this ongoing tribal tensions and fights going on in Dom area.”
The violence was sparked by the election.
There has been extreme tension whenever fighting has stopped so much so that the Chimbu Provincial Peace and Good Order Committee has declared fighting zones in three districts.
Wampe said the Dagle area in Kerowagi district, Dinga area in Sinasina-Yongomugl and Dom area in Gumine were declared fighting zones.
Fight zones allow police to use extreme measures to stop violence.
The committee headed by provincial administrator Joe Kunda and Wampe made the declaration last week.
“Any individual carrying offensive weapons and seen conducting illegal assemblies would be arrested as per the declaration,” Wampe warned.
He said three people were killed in the Dagle fight and included a disabled bring girl thrown into a burning double-storey house belonging to her father.
In another incident a former soldier and a former councillor from the two rival factions suddenly met face to face and open fired on each other, he said.
The former councillor died instantly and the soldier died a week later after being admitted at the Kundiawa General Hospital.
Supt Wampe said family members and relatives of another faction of the Dom fight fled across the Waghi River to Dinga in Sinasina-Yongumugl district.
Dekena claimed police in Chimbu and Gumine district were not doing enough to stop the harassment and attacks.
Dekena said in one of the latest incidents one of his relatives was attacked and was almost killed managed to escape into the Kerowagi district.
Supt Wampe said police had done all they could with the limited resources they had.
Dekena also appealed to fellow candidates to help stop the violence and asked their supporters or those involved to respect the law and cooperate with the authorities.
“People are innocent and want to live their normal lives, I urge those (responsible) to refrain and assist to get back normal lives.”
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