By Keith Jackson in Noosa

Papua New Guinea’s prime minister James Marape has arisen with fire in his belly today.

A short time ago he issued a short and pugnacious Facebook message to members of Parliament who are plotting to overthrow his government.

The plotters are reportedly led by former prime minister Peter O’Neill and his former deputy Belden Namah.

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They claim to have a majority of members who have defected to them, but a parliamentary vote of no confidence cannot be held for another month.

“Produce your numbers on the floor, mate,” a belligerent Marape wrote to chief plotter Belden Namah.

“I am a Huli chief responsible for the small people’s dreams to be rich in their God-given rich land and waters throughout the length and breadth of my country.”

He went on to say that “a Huli doesn’t surrender in a fight, you have to kill me on the battlefield and I will die with dignity.

‘I would rather die in battle’
“I would rather die in battle for the values I stand for than succumbing to the call of a political scumbag.

“And if you do kill me, I can assure you and your cronies, I have kindled a fire in the gut of many of my innocent country-loving first and second term MPs who will carry the fight to take back our country’s resources from the hands of greedy few elites who play this game under the pretext of people’s interest,” Marape said.

“Don’t ask me to resign, come and get it off me in the battlegrounds of Waigani.”

Referring to Namah’s previous hijacking of Parliament, Marape concluded: “You, Belden Namah took it illegally off the father of our nation [Sir Michael Somare] in 2011.

“It will not be as easy this time around.”

Keith Jackson is editor and publisher of PNG Attitude. The Pacific Media Centre republishes his blog items with permission.

Australia has a responsibility to protect the Pacific region from the impacts of climate change, PNG’s newly appointed Prime Minister has said.

James Marape told The Guardian’s Helen Davidson that Australia had “a moral responsibility … to the upkeep of the planet”, particularly given the extreme effect it was having on smaller Pacific nations wrote.

Yesterday, I returned from Tari Electorate in Hela Province following a one day trip to assess the situation following the horrific killing of 23 women (two of whom were pregnant) and nine children in the worst payback killing in our country’s history.

In my capacity as Minister for Police, I represented the James Marape-led government to be on the ground to pay respects to those killed and prepare and provide a brief to the Prime Minister on the circumstances behind the incident – what, who, when, how and why.

Tribal fights are not new in PNG and in recent years they have become more prevalent in the highlands region; one may argue they have been going on since the beginning of time.

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However since that time the rules of engagement have always been that the elderly, women and children have been off limits.

So killing of innocent women and children in tribal conflicts until recently was unheard of. Last week’s merciless killings have changed everything. The immediate concern is that it will become the new trend.

I guess the questions people are asking are why did it happen, will it happen again and more importantly what is being done to prevent it from ever happening again?

Why it happened
On the first issue, why it happened:

What people would not be aware of was that last week there were three separate killings in Tagali local level government relating to a tribal conflict that has been going on for almost two decades.

The conflict has been between two tribes, one headed by a man called Oi Kiru, who comes from Pajaka 2 village, and the opposing tribe, led by Libe Koi and his second in charge Ha’gu’ai, who come from Yaganda village.

In June 2019, a key tribesman of Libe was killed. His name was Eganada and he lived in Munima village. Usually, when tribes go to war they solicit the support of surrounding villages they are married into or provide protection to.

In this case, a key ally to Libe was Eaganda, who in June was killed by his own cousin A’gun’ai (a known drug body) over an ongoing dispute between them. It is alleged A’gun’ai killed Eganada and in fear of his life fled to Oi Kiru’s village. As the saying goes, the enemy of your enemy is your friend.

However, while in the protection of Oi’ Kiru’s tribesman, we were told A’gun’ai, with a number of his own tribesman, killed six of Oi Kiru’s clansmen including his mother.

They returned to their village and threatened a nearby village called Karita, which A’gun’ai is married into, insisting that Karita village pay them protection money or face a similar attack.

Peace ceremony
On Sunday, July 7, Munima and Karita village got together to stage a peace ceremony, Karita offering 10 pigs and 4,000 kina to A’gun’ai and his clansmen.

Unbeknownst to them, Oi Kiru, learning of his mother’s death, raided a village near Munima called Peta, killing three women and three children – they were all shot to death using high powered rifles.

Following the killing at Peta village, on Monday morning around 6am young tribesman attacked Karita Village killing nine women and seven children. Two of the women were pregnant. They were killed after being attacked by the young men with machetes.

Why were women and children attacked at Karita village?

It appears the killing of women and children stemmed from the killing of Oi Kiru’s mother by men under the influence of marijuana. What followed was the payback killing of three women and three children at Peta village that triggered the further payback killing of nine women and seven children at Karita village.

On Tuesday, members of Police Mobile Squad and the Defence Force were deployed to the area. Following the recent visits by the governor of Hela Philip Undialu and me, the killings have stopped for now. Reports indicate those involved have fled the province.

The Governor and I visited both Munima and Karita villages to get a first-hand account of what happened and provide an assurance that the Marape-Steven government will bring those responsible to account.

I had intended to stay overnight at Karita village, since that was the last village to have suffered a major loss, however I was advised against it as Munima village would expect the same treatment.

Community leaders
Despite my disappointment in not spending enough time in the villages, the fact that the governor and I were on the ground prompted the community leaders from Munima and Karita not to continue to retaliate.

So what happens now.

Following consultation with Provincial Governor, Provincial Administrator and the Provincial Police Commander, including Acting Deputy Commissioner of Police David Manning, a platoon from the Defence Force and Police Mobile Squad is being stationed at Munima Primary School to provide round-the-clock security, to prevent any further escalation of violence.

High level discussions on a strategic deployment action plan, using drone technology and satellite surveillance, will be used to track and apprehend those on the run. An intelligence unit will also be established to gather information from community.

While a number of plans are being put into action to ensure peace prevails, to prevent such devastating acts of violence in our communities it is important that for the long term that we find a different way of resolving conflict that rejects revenge but encourages resolution through dialogue.

I intend to return to the province in a week’s time to get an update.

• This article is republished by Asia Pacific Report with permission from Keith Jackson’s blog PNG Attitude. It was originally published on Bryan Kramer’s Facebook page Kramer Report.

Recently, Keith Jackson’s PNG Attitude has been publishing a discussion on some of the unhappy events that occurred as the colonial regime extended its control over the tribes of Papua New Guinea.

However, one marvellous and positive legacy Australia left to Papua New Guinea was that it did not allow the alienation of more than a very small area of land.

Even then, the land remained the property of the government as distinct from private individuals, who could only lease it.

The first Administrator of the then Territory of Papua, Sir William McGregor, insisted that only the government could buy land and that the policy of the colonial regime should be to restrict this to very small parcels.

My recollection is that he got this idea from his time in Fiji, where the policy had been put in place when Fiji first became a Crown Colony.

McGregor and his successors realised that, in a subsistence economy like that of Papua (and later New Guinea), land was a precious resource upon which people relied to live.

The administrators believed its alienation could lead to profound and very damaging socio-economic consequences as had been all too graphically demonstrated in Africa.

Ruthlessly dispossessed
Anyone familiar with the history of, say, Kenya, South Africa or Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) will understand that the native peoples were ruthlessly dispossessed of their land and suffered greatly as a result.

Now, amazingly, the government of Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has developed a “cunning plan” articulated by minister Justin Tkatchenko.

This plan must, by its very nature, result in the loss of control over communally held land for those Papua New Guineans foolish enough to allow its use as collateral for a loan.

This is a scheme that I think would never have seen the light of day in the colonial era.

It would instantly have been recognised as what it is: a licence for banks and others to progressively expropriate traditional lands in the name of “development”.

Wake up Papua New Guinea. Dr Clement Malau is right. This is a monstrous con job dressed up in the language of development and investment.

Please do not effectively throw away your ancestral heritage for the sake of money.

Republished from Keith Jackson’s PNG Attitude website. Chris Overland is a former PNG patrol officer and civil service administrator.

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