Six killed over land dispute

By HANNAH NERO
POLICE have confirmed the death of six persons in Kainantu, Eastern Highlands, last Tuesday (Dec 12), two of whom were killed in a church over a land dispute.
Provincial police commander Superintendent Michael Welly condemned the actions of disputing clans for chasing and killing the two people who tried to take refuge inside a Seventh Day Adventist Church in Isontenu, Kainantu.
“This is uncalled for and barbaric, the church is a place of worship and sacred in Christian values in a Christian country,” he said.
Welly said four others were killed in the battlefield.
He said the dispute had been ongoing since October last year over land ownership issues between the incorporated land group (ILG) in Yauna and Punano, Kainantu distict, Eastern Highlands, over the right to claim benefits from the Ramu 2 hydropower project, expected to be completed next year.
Welly appealed to leaders help bring order and calm. He added that police were outnumbered and had been struggling to control the fighting.
Welly said guns apart from bush knives and bows and arrows were being used, restricting police from entering the fighting zone.
However, Welly assured the public that since Thursday (Dec 14), three Mobile Squad units from Goroka were deployed to Kainantu, with instructions to set up boundaries between the warring clans and restoring traffic flow along the main highway on Friday, and awaiting ILG leaders to come together for dispute resolution, while police patrol boundaries. Police investigations are ongoing in this matter.