Three PNG children die among 11 killed in Porgera massacre

By Ale Asa in Porgera

Eleven people – including three children – have been massacred when a fight between two warring tribes from Tari spilled into the Porgera Valley in the Papua New Guinea Highlands.

Three women and five men from Enga were also killed when the O Kiru and Miape tribes resumed fighting, this time Porgera.

Paiela-Hewa LLG president Sailas Ayeila, who was on the ground with the law and order team and security personnel, confirmed that those killed yesterday were from Enga in the Paiela, Porgera and Kandep areas but lived in the Suyan village near Porgera.

He said this tribal fight had already claimed enough lives, including that of a young policeman recently.

Ayeila said the blood spilled by this fighting had been condemned by Porgera leaders, police and citizens.

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He said that even though the tribes were asked to return home, the O Kiru warlords refused to leave and returned to Suyan village in Marenga area in search of their enemies – the Miape tribe – and slaughtered the innocent people.

Ayeila said the Porgera-Paiela leaders and their people were now calling on the national government to declare a state of emergency in the area.

‘Barbaric and animalistic’
“We Engans do have tribal warfare but we don’t kill in such a barbaric and animalistic way. We don’t kill women and children,” he said.

“I helped to recover those killed and transport the corpses to Paiam Hospital morgue, and I am terrified.”

“People of Porgera, public servants and mining employees are in fear now. Several weeks ago, the police and PNG Defence Force went on a raid after a young policeman was killed by these Tari tribes and the houses that were burnt to the ground by these security personnel belonged to innocent people,’’ Ayiela said.

He also requested the national government to begin a manhunt for the two warlords.

Ale Asa is a PNG Post-Courier reporter.

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