Porgera tribes make peace

By ELIAS LARI
TEARS were shed and hugs were exchanged as six tribes from Enga’s Porgera district buried the hatchet on Monday, bringing an end to a decade of violence among them.
More than 900 lives were lost and property worth hundreds of thousands of kina was destroyed  as the Pakua, Nomali, Kiandan, Upper Keyual, Lower Tokia and Hiyakena  tribes fought over a piece of land.
Through mediation and initiatives of the Tipini Kairik Law and Order Restoring Society (KLORS), village councillors and leaders of these tribes agreed to bring an end to the violence which has
been described as the worst in the highlands province.
KLORS coordinator Nixon Pageo said at the peace declaration ceremony that fighting
did not solve any pro­blem.
Porgera is well
known for tribal fight and making peace is a bold step towards trying to move forward.
Surrendering weapons and declaring peace was a good sign for the district as for many years, members of these tribes had lived in fear and were denied freedom to move around freely.
“Tribal fighting is a bad lifestyle and affects the lives of the people,” Pageo  said.
He also urged other warring tribes in othe­r provinces to make peace.
The people of the six tribes should now turn their attention to improving their lives.
Porgera cooperative society chairman Thomson Kulara, who attended the ceremony, urged the government to find means and ways to help tribes who have decided to stop fighting.
 “The government can also buy the weapons from the tribes and destroy them so they will not (have the means to) fight in the future,” he said.