Papua New Guinea - March 2024

Tribal leaders in Papua New Guinea’s Enga Province signed a ceasefire agreement to end three years of fighting in which thousands were killed and more than 40,000 were either left homeless or saw their property or livelihood destroyed. Chiefs of the Yopo and Palinau agreed to a three-month unconditional ceasefire and end to warfare and to lay down, but not to surrender, all arms. The agreement was facilitated by a governmental State Conflict Resolution team. Yopo leader Roy Opone Andoi told the Post Courier newspaper, “I want to apologise to the State, rival tribes and neighbouring communities and the country for all the damage.” The reported causes of the violence – land disputes and shifting tribal alliances – are not new, but analysts credit the severity of it to receding state authority and an influx of modern weapons.

Sources: Radio New Zealand, Post Courier, Reliefweb