Papua New Guinea pleads for Australian Police aid to stem unprecedented clan violence
- Australian Federal Police assistance sought amid devastating tribal conflicts in country’s highlands
- Analysts warn economic strife and cultural violence have been intensifying, threatening national stability
On Wednesday, the governor of Papua New Guinea’s Enga province, where the fighting occurred, asked lawmakers to call on Canberra to send in Australian Federal Police forces to help stem extreme tribal violence in the restive Highlands region.
The plea follows a massacre on Sunday in which dozens of clan members were slaughtered with machetes or gunned down by semi-automatic weapons in Enga province after an apparent attempt to ambush rivals backfired.
Enga is home to the controversial Porgera Gold Mine, operated as a joint-venture between Canadian company Barrick and China’s Zijin Mining Group.
It employs over 3,000 people and accounts for around 10 per cent of the island’s total export value. But it has also been dogged by allegations of rights abuses, environmental ruin and unfair profit distribution.
