Thanks to the many efforts made by the people of East Sepik around the country to campaign against Violence in the province, yesterday the Meni Settlement Community took the initiative to formally surrender their arms and are now coming together for the betterment of the province.
Wewak District Administrator, Martin Maingu expressed great delight, stating that all the efforts that they have invested into awareness that was done is now paying off.
“We have started awareness for the people and the outcome was that yesterday the first group surrendered their weapons,” Maingu said.
He added that since the foundation of the Wewak chapter of the Sepik Social Youth Movement, they have been reaching out to communities within the vicinity of the town and advised them to surrender their weapons peacefully.
The items that were surrendered included Wire Catapults, home-made guns and gas bottles that were used in the distillation of homebrew.
Just over a week ago, ethnic Sepiks from all walks of life around the country stood together in solidarity to end the tyranny of the Wire Catapult. Fast forward to 7 days later, that vision is slowly coming to fruition. They have now put forward a challenge to the rest of the communities to do the right thing and are urging them to surrender their weapons.