Australia offers help to Papua New Guinea to control tribal violence

Sydney (Australia), February 19 (EFE).- Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Monday offered to send help to Papua New Guinea to control tribal violence that has left dozens dead since Sunday.

“We are willing to send all possible assistance to our friends in PNG (Papua New Guinea),” Albanese said in a radio interview with state broadcaster ABC.

Albanese, whose country already provides security assistance to Papua New Guinea under a bilateral agreement, reacted to news of tribal violence on Sunday in Enga province, located in the Highlands mountain region.

Local media Post Courier indicated the death toll was 64, although Australian media ABC says police have reduced the figure to 26.

George Kakas, acting superintendent of Papua New Guinea police, told the ABC network on Monday that the incident on Sunday would be “the largest massacre that has been seen in Enga, perhaps even in the entire highlands in Papua.” New Guinea”.

The High Police Command indicated that the massacre occurred when on Sunday morning one tribe ambushed another rival tribe, who was going to attack them with their allies and an undetermined number of mercenaries.

Police also reported attacks and confrontations with military-type weapons such as SLRs, AK-47s, M4 rifles. The M16, among other weapons, was used by Arabulin tribesmen and their allies against the Sikin and other related groups.

Tribal clashes in Enga – which will involve about 17 tribes – are set to worsen in the run-up to elections in 2022.

Another series of violent incidents occurred in September last year when a tribe was accused of killing a man, forcing authorities to restrict the movement of citizens.

Papua New Guinea, a resource-rich country whose vast majority of its twelve million inhabitants live in extreme poverty, is isolated by problems of connectivity and infrastructure, especially in remote areas where security and basic health and education are scarce. efe

WAT-GRC/RAA/LAA