SDA church missionary among six killed in Western and Eastern Highlands violence

News that matters in Papua New Guinea

SDA church missionary among six killed in Western and Eastern Highlands violence

PORT MORESBY: A Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) church missionary was among at least six people killed in three outbreaks of violence in Western and Eastern Highlands last week (from March to to March 8, 2020).

The police are still unable to determine the exact number of casualties and deaths.

PNG Cyber Monitor reproduce details of the violence in the Highlands as reported by The National:

6 killed in Highlands

March 9, 2020The NationalMain Stories

 Article Views : 0

By JAMES GUMUNO, PISAI GUMAR
and SAMUEL BARIASI

AT least six people, including a missionary, were killed in three separate outbreaks of violence in Western and Eastern Highlands last week.

• ON Monday March 2, a group of 15 Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) church missionaries were on their way to Porgera’s Paiela in Enga when they ran into gunmen who started shooting at them. The missionaries fled for their lives but at least one was killed on the spot;
•  ON Friday March 6 in Kainantu town, local Agarabi people and a local businessman quarrelled and fought over a plot of state land but the casualties could not be confirmed; and
•  CONCURRENTLY on Friday in Tairora, Aiyura police reported fighting broke out between the Norikori and Barabundora clans in Obura-Wonenara and, four men and a woman were believed to have been killed.
  SDA Western Highlands Mission president Malachi Yani said an unknown number gunmen ambushed and opened fired at the missionaries in the bush.
  “The missionaries were on a bush track when the armed robbers launched the attack in Komonga village. The gunmen took a public address system, a genset, and other valuables from the missionaries,” Yani said, adding that the assailants chased down Martin David and shot him dead.
  “I confirm the killing of David but I do not know about the condition of other members of the group of missionaries.
  “The armed men are still watching over the body of David and it is still very risky to go in to retrieve it.
  “The missionaries were part of a group of 248 teams dispatched to different places to carry out pre-harvest campaign in preparation for their big crusade in May in Mt Hagen,” Yani said.
  He said the group started their journey on March 1 and stopped for a night where the road ended.
  “They continued the next morning and were walking towards Paiela when they were attacked in the bush track.
  “The armed robbers had spotted the missionaries earlier down the road and had asked where they were going. The armed men took another track and waited in ambush,” he added.
  Yani said the armed men fired at random on the group of missionaries and “it is not known how many were injured or killed”.
  “We can confirm David was shot dead but the fate of others is still unknown,” he added.
  Yani said the Porgera police failed to respond quickly to help the church members.
  “We needed police assistance to go into the area and look for those killed and bring their bodies out,” he said.
  Police Comm David Manning said he was briefed by Yani who had appealed to Barrick Ltd to help rescue the injured and retrieve the bodies of the dead but “that could not be carried out because of bad weather.”
  “We will attempt to meet Yani’s request throughout the weekend depending on the weather.”
  Enga commander Snr Insp Epenes Nili said he could not comment on the violence because he had yet to receive the incident report from his men.
  Kainantu police station commander Peter Roari could only confirm the two incidents happened concurrently last Friday.
  The quarrel over the plot of land resulted in Agarabi people arming themselves with weapons, marching through town to the police station.
  Policemen investigating the clash between the two clans and who did not want to be named said the Norikori fighters went aggressive on Wednesday after burying the remains of the two students and a Salvation Army pastor who were killed in a fight last month.
  The Norikori clan conducted a dawn raid on Barabundora and Norainda villages, killing a man in the second village and destroying houses on Friday.
  The Norainda and Barabundora clans then regrouped and retaliated, pushing the Norikoris further into Abahora, killing three men and a woman.
  However, Roari dismissed
  the number of killings in Norikori.
  “Only one person was killed in Norainda last Friday and not four as alleged.
  “No one was killed in Norikori-Abahora in the recent fighting,” Roari told The National.
  “With the assistance of Mobile Squad 14 (Goroka), Kainantu police and Zulu 01 response unit (Obura-Wonenara), we managed to contain both situations,” he added.
  On March 5, The National reported that warring groups from Norikori and Barabundora had agreed to a ceasefire and not to touch schools and health facilities again.
  Roari said the situation in Tairora had calmed down but the situation was still tense as all the homes in nearby villages were razed with villagers fleeing their homes.
  “It is impossible to resume classes again.”
  Roari said the argument was over a piece of vacant land near Kainantu High School allegedly bought by a coffee trader for development.
  “When construction started last Wednesday and Thursday, there was continuous protests by aggrieved locals.
  “Police managed to execute a court order last Friday, preventing the aggrieved locals from interfering.
  “Instead, the court order infuriated the locals who stormed the town armed with weapons, marching directly to the police station.
  “I called Acting Supt David Seine Jr who drove here immediately from Kainantu to address the crowd at about 4pm,” he said, adding that police were monitoring the situation and developments.