Mass killing and ‘cannibalism’ video mar start of PNG’s 50th anniversary year

Tribal violence and claims of ‘cannibalism’ in Papua New Guinea have marked the start of 2025 for the Pacific nation as it prepares to celebrate its 50th anniversary of independence.

Nine people were killed in Enga Province over the New Year period in shootouts, as violence further escalates in the restive highlands region that was hit by a devastating landslide last May.

These latest deaths have been overshadowed by a viral video circulating of armed gang members holding mutilated body parts in Central Province, 60 miles [100 kilometers] from the capital.

Voices in the Tok Pisin language on the video said they planned to eat the victim, with one man making licking motions as they displayed a severed foot, sparking furor in the country over alleged cannibalism.

Police said the deceased was killed in a dispute in the remote Goilala mountains in the province, but there are conflicting accounts of when the video was made. 

One of Prime Minister James Marape’s first acts of the New Year was to appeal for calm in Goilala, condemn the loss of life and call for restoration of order, amid issuing invitations for world leaders to attend the independence celebrations in September.

“Such acts of inhumanity are intolerable and represent a significant challenge to our shared humanity,” Marape said in a statement after the release of the video.

“Our nation is preparing to celebrate the 50th anniversary of independence, let’s not taint this with violence and bloodshed,” he said.

In the past year, more than 100 people were killed in fighting in Enga alone despite police deploying extra units and armored personnel carriers, with dozens more dead in tribal violence across the country. 

Community leaders and elders from Goilala have called for government action to control gangs terrorizing their region, which they say has descended into lawlessness with no police presence.

Police told BenarNews they have recorded seven deaths in the last 12 months from fighting.

While Goilala is close to the capital Port Moresby, it’s only accessible by foot, helicopter or light plane. The main highway into the area is barely passable by vehicle because of landslips and lack of maintenance. 

Locals said the district is known as a haven for criminals hiding from police – because of the rugged terrain and thick forest – and have called for the deployment of security forces.

“Some cult youth groups are trying out new ideas in our area using social media to show their violent acts,” community leader Matilda Koma from Auga Dilava told BenarNews.

“We do not eat people. Goilala people are not cannibals,” she said, adding the incident in the video happened in March last year but police were only acting now that it had circulated on social media.

Police told BenarNews the killing occurred in November.

Police Minister Peter Tsiamalili in a statement on Sunday said, “the conflict saw villagers taking sides, ultimately resulting in the gruesome killing of the elder brother by the younger sibling.”

“These barbaric actions by a group of youths not only shock our collective conscience but also pose a grave threat to the societal values that bind us as a nation,” he said.

BenarNews decided not to publish images from the graphic video. 

Koma also said another violent group – known as the ‘Followers of Pilot’ – were heavily armed and had been going from village to village near the abandoned Tolukuma gold mine terrorizing people. 

The group’s leader Awa Pilot and four followers were killed by local villagers in a retaliatory attack in December 2022, after two men were killed by hand grenades in a raid on the Catholic mission at Fane.

Koma said the location of the gang was known but they needed police assistance.

Fane’s Catholic priest Francis Pirit told BenarNews the video of the killing and youths pretending to eat human remains was a show of bravado, that they had won a battle.

“There are no cannibals in the Goilala area. I sleep, eat and live amongst them. They do not eat human beings,” he said, adding the video is not connected to cult practices but tribal fighting.

Despite the boast, there is no footage of the act in the gruesome video.

Cannibalism in PNG was largely a ritual practice by a small number of tribes and faded out by the 1960s after being banned by Australia – the colonial power – in the previous decade. It remains a sensitive topic.

In April last year, Marape dismissed US President Joe Biden’s claim that his uncle was eaten by after being shot down over New Guinea during World War II, saying PNG did not deserve to be labeled as a nation of cannibals.

President of the PNG Law Society Hubert Namani sparked outrage when his comments condemning the “barbaric killing, mutilation and cannibalism” over the festive season were sensationally reported by the Post Courier newspaper.

“As a nation preparing to celebrate 50 years of independence, it is unacceptable for such atrocities to occur within our borders,” Namani said in a statement on Monday, calling on the government to arrest those responsible.

The incident highlighted the root causes like lack of basic services in remote areas and no effective police enforcement, creating a breeding ground for lawlessness, he said.

In a further statement on Tuesday, Namani said he was standing by his comments saying they focussed on the inhumanity of the crime and were not meant to stereotype or target any specific community.

“The term ‘cannibalism’ was used in the context of the confronting materials which point to actions that are unprecedented in their cruelty and depravity,” he said.

PNG has suffered from a lack of police officers since independence. Last month Marape’s office said there was “one policeman serving every 1600 people in PNG when the average global ratio is one policeman to 450 people.”

Crime and lack of law and order is rife in PNG despite the government allocating US$170 million [703 million kina] in this year’s budget for police and security forces.

Shortly after Marape took office in 2019, tribal violence in his electorate left 22 dead. He called it the “saddest day of his life” and vowed action, saying “time is up.” Massacres have continued unabated.

Goilala’s local member of parliament Casmiro Aio told broadcaster EMTV this week there had been no regular police presence in his electorate for 10 years.

Central Province police commander acting superintendent Joseph Salle told BenarNews that the death in the video was a payback killing and reports of a cult group carrying out the atrocities had yet to be established. 

Salle said police plan to fly to the area to investigate the claims but could not give a timeframe, citing lack of resources to deploy.