SHP MPs urged to stop fights

By JACOB POK
MORE than 30 people are believed to have died in an ongoing tribal warfare along the border of Kutubu and Tari in the Southern Highlands.
Local leaders claimed that the tribal warfare started in 2008 between clans within the Beneria and Moran area over a land dispute.
Local leader Peya Mongola told The National yesterday that the land dispute over the Beneria pipeline and Moran PDL 5 and PDL 6 had claimed 32 lives since 2008.
He said the fight started between the Peri and Kondo clans following a dispute over land where gas and oil projects were taking place.
He said other clans later joined in the battle and the fight turned into a inter-tribal warfare.
He said the battle took place in the thick jungles along the border of Kutubu and Tari where there were no police.
“They are fighting in an isolated area and many people have died so far and we fear more lives could be lost if police and local leaders failed to intervene and solve the problem in anyway possible.”
Mongola urged the government to intervene and dispatch a police patrol to the area to stop the warfare.
Former Tari MP Sir Matiabe Yuwi urged Southern Highlands leaders to visit the people in the province and resolve the conflict.
“The fight is taking place on where Governor Anderson Agiru and Imbonggu MP Francis Potape hail from and they should step in to solve the problem,” he said.
He urged the leaders to be more concerned about their people than themselves.
“The payback system is too strong in the area and many lives are in danger so we call on the leaders and police to intervene,” Sir Matiabe said.