Tribes end 23 years of fighting

By JAMES GUMUNO
TWENTY-three years of fighting between two tribes which resulted in the death of 45 people has ended with the church brokering a peace deal and having two crosses erected to mark the ocassion.
The Ramui Kimbin tribe and the Maip Kumba tribes are both from Baiyer Valley in Western Highlands.
They started fighting in 1995 over a piece of land at Kigir village. It also involved neighbouring tribes taking sides.
During a week-long combined inter-denominational crusade at the Kombolopa Lutheran Church ground, councillors, community leaders and family member of those killed pledged to maintain peace and harmony in the valley.
The two tribes were each given two crosses to plant in their villages to remind them of the peace agreement they had made in front of church leaders and the police.
Peace committee member and deputy principal of Kombolopa Secondary School Joseph Paraka said it was the final peace ceremony.
Paraka said attempts made in the past by police and MPs to stop the fighting had failed.
He said lawyer Paul Paraka intervened in 2011 with 200 pigs and K100,000 to stop the fighting.
The 45 who died included women, a councillor and a village court magistrate. Paraka said the planting of the crosses on Sunday sealed the peace process.
Councillor Warino Kongori, from the Maip tribe, said people from both sides were no longer afraid.
He said they used high-powered guns to fight and it was very hard for the police to stop them.
Cr Simon Nais, from the Ramui tribe, said fighting was bad and thanked the church and leaders for initiating the final peace process.
“We now surrender to God and will not fight again in the years to come,” he said.
Pomb Pupu, from Ramui tribe, whose father was the village court magistrate killed in 2004 said he had forgiven those whoi caused his father’s death.