After sporadic fighting which led to the burning and looting of business and residential houses in Mendi, all factions are ready to sit down to conduct peace talks.
Even though the fighting in the province has ceased, Provincial Police Commander, Chief Inspector Daniel Yangen is cautious and ready to deal with the situation should violence break out again.
The CIP stated that since fighting ceased yesterday after a whole day of violence, all factions are now ready to sit down and discuss their grievances and hopefully sort themselves out.
“We are now trying to sit down and talk out our issues, leaders from all factions will be present also the ACP Anton Billie will be coming down to facilitate peace talks with the leaders, alongside a certain number of politicians.
We are now waiting upon their arrival and also for the leaders,” the PPC said. Peace negotiations were made on Friday with a number of the factions after the initial fighting on Thursday, but unfortunately few others were not present during the proceedings.
This led to another confrontation in the early hours of yesterday, resulting in the destruction of houses. Security personnel at the time struggled to quell the violence because they were far too stretched out.
The security personnel were advised to keep watch over state property. The factions which are known to be supporters of both Peter Nupiri and Bernard Kaku, reacted in kind to the attackers, driving them out of town, whilst in retaliation, burning down a few more houses.
All sides are said to be in possession of high powered weapons. The PPC has advised all leaders to provide space for security forces to attend to those in and around the fighting zone and has called for peace talks and negotiations to take place.