Transcript
GEORGE KAKAS: And they said ok, they will stop the fighting, and the Kandeps will go back to their village in kandep, the Kiis (people of Kii tribe) will lay down their arms. They wanted the Kalas (people of Kala tribe) to also do the same, and there'll be no more fighting. They will take their matter (regarding alleged election irregularities) to court. So that was the answer I got from them. I went to the Amala village and talked to the Kala people about what the Kii and the Kandeps have said. And they also agreed to a ceasefire, to stop fighting. So I think all is good. We haven’t had any fighting from Monday up until now. We'll be serving a preventive order on both sides.
JOHNNY BLADES: What does that do?
GK: That will... the leaders from all three tribes, one from Kandep, the Kii and the Kala, we've gotten down the names of all the leaders from all the factions, and we've got it in a preventive order. The preventive order comes from the court. It's a court-sanctioned order we will serve on the leadership of the three tribes today, and then send them off. If there's any fighting, any problem at all related to this problem, we will round up all the leaders that have been named in the preventive order and have them arrested under the warrant from the court.
JB: You explained the other day that the people fighting from the Kii tribe were actually just a faction of a sub-clan. It's difficult to control everyone, I guess.
GK: That's right. But we managed to get all the leadership from the other seven sub-clans of the Kii tribe, and we've also got their names down on the preventive order. So they'll be sort of observing and watching the other mates from the sub-clans... they'll be saying to them, if you breach this truce... we don't want to be arrested and charged, so you better watch out. So they'll all be keeping a check and balance watch on each other.
JB: Obviously Enga has seen problems with the Kandep elections numerous times in the past. So, will something change, do you think, before the next time?
GK: We're hoping people will learn lessons. The fighting has always been between Don and Alfred (Don Polye and Alfred Manase, Kandep's ousted MP and MP-elect respectively). So I don't know…if these two go, maybe we'll have a new landscape altogether. They've been the ones. The Kandeps have been peaceful until those two arrived on the scene.
JB: I did ask Don Polye why you can’t call off your people, tell them to stop fighting. He said, look, I've been trying, I've made numerous calls. He said that once property or lives are lost then it's hard to stop that cycle of revenge. So you agree with that?
GK: I might not really agree with that because in Enga any tribal fight that starts, it's a tribal thing. And the warring tribes, when they go into battle, they're reminded that they've got a leader. In the end, their leader is the one who will pay compensation, who will be the one taking the lead in the trouble. So my experience in Enga tells me that, if he actually came down and told the people to stop and go back to the village [they would obey]. The fight is actually his fight.
