War and peace in Highland PNG: Some recent developments in the Nebilyer Valley, Western Highlands Province

Abstract

"During the entire period from about 1950 to 2005 the Kopia and Kubuka tribes, with whom we have lived at Kailge, were not involved in any lethal warfare. They were on the verge of it in 1982 when they joined in with their eastern neighbours - the Epola-Alya and others - in a fight that had broken out between them and their neighbours to the south, the Tea-Dena. This conflict (for reasons discussed in Merlan & Rumsey 1991) became known as the Marsupial Road War (see Map 3). But that war was stopped by a dramatic intervention by a local women’s group who marched out on the battlefield between the opposing sides and broke it up. That intervention established a peace that lasted 23 years. This changed dramatically in 2005 when the Kopia and Kubuka people got into the biggest fight that they had experienced in living memory in which approximately 80 people were killed over then period 2005-2007. Here I give an account of how that turn of events took place, use it to illustrate what I see as some general features of the socio-political order in this region, and try to develop some conclusions about the problems and prospects for conflict resolution there and in Highland New Guinea more generally ..." - page 1-2