“From the outside looking in, the two countries will look like one country,” Elizabeth Koppel, a researcher at the Papua New Guinea National Institute, said during a panel discussion on tribal violence hosted by the U.S. Institute of Peace in October. Told. “But we really struggle to live with each other and try to understand each other given all the diversity.”
Tensions have been rising for several years in the highlands, including Enga province, where recent deaths occurred. “This kind of situation has only gotten worse over the years,” Australian National University researcher Michael Mayne said. He added: “It's been going on for so long that an entire generation is growing up with deep, deep trauma. This level of violence has become normalized.”
Aktoprak said disagreements over limited water and other resources, as well as private land, have long caused tensions. “The main factors that cause these horrific events are actually generations old,” he says.
The number of deaths has increased in recent years as tribesmen have shifted from using traditional weapons to more powerful firearms, including semi-automatic guns, mainly imported from overseas. “In the past, spears and bows and arrows were used in tribal conflicts, and while there were deaths, casualties were small,” said Peter Mulolela, also from the United Nations Migration Agency.
The Papua New Guinea Defense Force “fundamentally admits that it is an inferior force,” Dr Mayne said.
Issues in the highlands go back many years, are highly localized, often deeply personal, and are often related to long-standing grievances over land and politics. This problem is compounded by the fact that young people are under-educated and under-employed; As a result, thousands of people were forced to evacuate en masse.
