PNGBLOGS

OP/ED Students at two schools in the Highlands will now go without their teachers because they were killed in a tribal fight at Minj in the Western Highlands. In that fight, Police tell us that guns were used. On the same day, three villagers from Kandep walked into our office in Mt Hagen and told us that some 300 firearms are in the hands of communities who are engaged in a conflict. They revealed that over 75 men have been killed in the conflict that has raged for a number of years. The breakdown of law and order, the proliferation of violence now increasingly blamed on guns, and the inability of the Police or the courts to exercise authority because of various reasons, are more obvious features in PNG today. According to Police, there is overwhelming evidence to show that major crimes over the last 15 years or more have been exacerbated by the use of illegal guns. Tribal fighting, robbery, break and enter and murder involve the use of guns. We can therefore assume that without guns,

OP/ED Students at two schools in the Highlands will now go without their teachers because they were killed in a tribal fight at Minj in the Western Highlands. In that fight, Police tell us that guns were used. On the same day, three villagers from Kandep walked into our office in Mt Hagen and told us that some 300 firearms are in the hands of communities who are engaged in a conflict. They revealed that over 75 men have been killed in the conflict that has raged for a number of years. The breakdown of law and order, the proliferation of violence now increasingly blamed on guns, and the inability of the Police or the courts to exercise authority because of various reasons, are more obvious features in PNG today. According to Police, there is overwhelming evidence to show that major crimes over the last 15 years or more have been exacerbated by the use of illegal guns. Tribal fighting, robbery, break and enter and murder involve the use of guns. We can therefore assume that without g