PNG police "powerless" to stop tribal war

1:41 pm on 17 July 2015

The police in Papua New Guinea's Western Highlands province say they are powerless to stop a tribal war on the remote border with Enga province that has killed 11 people in the past month.

The Western Highlands commander, Superintendent Martin Lakari, says the tribes have been engaged in guerilla war for thirty years, and at least 300 people have been killed over that time.

He says the area is only accessible by helicopter, but the police don't have the funding or resources to get there to stop the fighting.

Mr Lakari says he has asked the district's MPs for national government support, but is yet to hear anything.

"We can't [do anything], unless a chopper is hired and police manpower from here be sent to try and negotiate for peace, to try and put the trouble to an end. We want an intervention here."

Martin Lakari says he wants the Papua New Guinea Defence Force deployed in the area.