2 Sep 2016

Call for PNG police reinforcement in Tari over tribal fighting

From , 5:04 am on 2 September 2016

There are calls for more police deployments to Papua New Guinea's Hela Province where tribal fighting has flared up in the past week.

Officials in Hela say there's been a spate of tribal fights in the province, centred around the provincial capital, Tari.

This comes after last month's landowner blockade of the major LNG Gas Project in Hela, which was lifted after government promised to pay the landowners outstanding project commitments owed them.

However Hela's current police strength has been described by locals as being inadequate for containing the latest unrest which varying reports say has left several people dead.

Johnny Blades has been following events.

Tari airport, Hela Province, Papua New Guinea.

Tari airport, Hela Province, Papua New Guinea. Photo: RNZI / Johnny Blades