Warring tribes in Papua New Guinea's Hela province have negotiated a peace agreement.
Peace talks on Friday organised by police took place in Hela's capital Tari, which has been the focal point for vicious tribal fighting since March, killing about a dozen people.
The unrest caused international humanitarian workers to pull out of Hela and a suspension of aid relief for many communities affected by February's magnitude 7.5 earthquake.
Photo: Facebook/ FRIEND
Hela's provincial police commander, Martin Lakari, said he managed to get all eight tribes involved in the recent warfare together.
"All of them signed an agreement that they would not fight again in the near future, during the time a court order permanently restrained them from any more tribal fighting."
A mediation process, involving settlement of compensation would begin on Wednesday in Tari, Mr Lakari said.
Normalcy had returned in Tari town, which had been the scene many gunfire skirmishes in recent weeks, he said.
"There's no gunfire over the weekend, and now this morning, nothing happened... everything has returned back to normal."
The peace talks and mediation process also involved representatives of district and provincial administrations, town councillors, peace mediators, as well as the tribal leaders, according to Mr Lakari.
"The mediation team will identify those people involved in the killings, there will be orders given for them to pay compensation," he said, adding that the mediation process would look to fulfill all "customary requirements" and could take weeks.
Young men brandishing bushknives are a common sight in Tari. Photo: RNZ / Johnny Blades
Meanwhile, as tribes committed to obeying the order restraining them from further hostilities, police would be working to arrest and charge warlords and perpetrators behind the recent killings, including that of a Tari councillor in March, he said.
"If they beach any one of those orders, police will come down very hard on those people... the concerned people: the leaders, the relatives, the tribesmen, they will all be arrested and prosecuted for disobeying these orders," Mr Lakari explained.
"Everyone is committed to address this issue once and for all. We can't just sit back and watch people coming with guns, bang bang, shooting anyone in Tari town."
