AFP denies Australian guns fuelling Papua New Guinea tribal wars
The Australian Federal Police says there is ‘no credible evidence’ that large numbers of smuggled guns from Australia are being used to wage tribal wars in Papua New Guinea.
The Australian Federal Police says there is “no credible evidence” that large numbers of smuggled guns from Australia are being used to wage tribal wars in Papua New Guinea, after the country’s police commissioner said Australia-sourced weapons were fuelling the deadly conflicts.
PNG Police Commissioner David Manning this week said illegal guns were flowing in from Australia for use in tribal wars that have killed more than 150 people this year alone.
“Some of these firearms are brought in from Australia, eventually finding (their) way into the tribal fight areas,” he told the Post Courier newspaper.
He said drones from Australia were being used by tribes to spot enemies from above.
An AFP spokeswoman said Australia, which has some of the world’s strongest gun laws, was not a significant source of illegal weapons.
“There is no credible intelligence to suggest large-scale importation of illicit firearms to PNG from Australia, as reported in recent media,” she said.
However, she was unable to rule out a possibility that criminal syndicates may have trafficked small numbers of guns to Australia’s northern neighbour.
Analysts have long warned of contraband flowing into PNG across its land border with Indonesia’s West Papua province, with some claiming guns are traded for women and drugs.
However, the PNG Defence Force’s acting commander, Commodore Philip Polewara, said the country’s porous maritime border with Australia also posed a serious risk. “I can admit that, especially in the southern border, there are holes where … these things do come through,” he said.
Tribal fighting in PNG’s Enga Province has claimed dozens of lives in recent months, as automatic weapons transform the scale and bloodiness of traditional tribal battles.
The fighting comes as PNG faces a financial crisis and surging population growth that has strained the government’s ability to provide basic services.
Enga’s Governor, Peter Ipatas, appealed for Australian help to contain the violence that has been marked by an influx of automatic weapons and hired gunmen.
PNG is yet to make a formal request for Australian support, and any AFP contingent would be unable to carry weapons due to constitutional restrictions.
Videos available online show piled-up naked bodies from recent fighting, and three dead men being dragged behind a four-wheel drive.
PNG Prime Minister James Marape has sent in a new squad of police and soldiers to try to wrest control of the province from the warring tribes.
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