TThe spread of slingshot-style weapons that fire metal arrows has exacerbated violence in Papua New Guinea’s northeastern East Sepik province and led to a rise in traumatic injuries, authorities and medical workers said after attacks that killed dozens of people in the region.
Last month, young men attacked three remote villages in Angoram district, East Sepik province, leaving at least 26 people dead, including women and children, although estimates of the total number of casualties vary.
Survivors speaking at a UN-run care centre in the Angoram district headquarters told the Guardian that 63 people were killed. They asked not to be identified because they had been told by local authorities not to speak to the media. The UN has said the death toll was more than 50.
Several women and girls were raped and their homes set ablaze in the attack, which was carried out by a gang known as “I don’t care” in Angoram province. East Sepik provincial acting police commander James Bogen said the killings were the result of a long-running land dispute between villagers.
Tribal violence sparked by disputes over land has escalated in East Sepik and neighboring provinces in recent years. Authorities say weapons known as wire catapults, which shoot metal arrows long distances using slingshots, are widespread. Slingshots are also known as “silencers” because they make no noise when fired. Recent attacks in Angoram province have used wire catapults, knives, sticks and stones.
East Sepik provincial governor Alan Bird said the wire catapults would “add a lethal weapon with longer range.”
“These weapons are mainly used in Wewak and Angoram but are gradually increasing in the state as they are very easy to manufacture,” Bird said.
Fresh fighting broke out this week in Lawan village, East Sepik province, Wewak district, with houses being burned and unconfirmed deaths reported.
Increase in trauma cases
Bird said the direct cause of the increase in violence in East Sepik was unclear but there were several contributing factors, including the presence of wire catapults.
“The wire catapults were introduced about five years ago. We don’t know where they came from, but the violence has intensified every year,” Bird said.
“These weapons are mainly made and used by minors. The violence is fuelled by alcohol consumption. There are also serious underlying issues, such as disputes over land boundaries. [the] The population will increase.”
Bird said a “lack of justice, a shortage of police” was making the situation in East Sepik even worse. He said police were several days late in arriving after the recent attack in Angoram.
“It took police several more days to respond because there was no gasoline in the state,” Byrd said.
East Sepik Health Authority chief executive Matthew Calvia said the use of wire catapults has led to an increase in trauma cases in the province. Calvia said hospitals are seeing more trauma admissions compared to other types of admissions.
“Statistics on trauma admissions by East Sepik Provincial Hospital in 2021 show that non-trauma cases are below 50 percent, while trauma cases reach nearly 60 percent,” he said.
Calvia said statistics for this year were not yet available, but many people had been hospitalised with injuries caused by bush knives, wood, stones, iron bars and more recently wire catapults.
“Many of the hospital admissions are for lacerations, as well as trauma to the brain, fractures and head and chest injuries.”
Calvia said the use of wire catapults had affected many lives and strained hospital resources, but he said the surgical team was doing its best to save lives.
Interim Police Commander Bogen said five suspects had been arrested in connection with the Angoram attack and that police were searching for dozens of others.
UN teams on the ground in Angoram are running care centres for survivors of the attack, with around 200 people sheltering in six centres. The UN said displaced families need food, water, hygiene kits for women and children, clothing, bedding and other supplies.
UNICEF, which is based in the country, said it had received five unaccompanied children in Angoram whose parents had been killed or gone missing. UNICEF Representative in Papua New Guinea Angela Carney said a specialised team was working to identify the children and provide them with care, including much-needed psychosocial support.
“Words cannot express the horror these poor children witnessed,” Carney said.
