Settlers not wanted

By LEONNIE WAYANG-SEVUA
A FIGHT in Kamkumu, Morobe, has seen landowners from Limki wanting Kabwum settlers to move off their land.The Kabwum settlers were told they could settle on a substantial area of land there by the grandfather of the landowners.But they do not know what to do because a landowner from Limki now wants them to leave.A resident at Limki, Sam Dinga said the issue had been ongoing for almost two weeks now and they had a court case pending in the Lae District Court.
He said he wanted police to intervene and monitor the area where fighting has been taking place.
“The land was promised to us by the landowner’s grandfather in a verbal agreement when our people were afraid to return home because of sorcery,” Dinga said.
Dinga said the landowner had hired a bulldozer to destroy food gardens on the pretext of clearing a road to get gravel from Bumbu River but he was in fact trying to drive the settlers off his land.
Attempts to reach the landowner or the police about the situation were unsuccessful.