How tradition and tribal courts can end war
Thursday, September 27, 2012 - 17:00
in Paleontology & Archaeology
Mostly isolated from outsiders until the 1950s, Papua New Guinea's Enga tribes fought with bows and arrows until 1990, when their young people and mercenary "Rambos" began using shotguns and semiautomatic rifles, igniting 20 years of warfare that killed 4,816 people. Wars diminished among some 110 Enga tribes when they tired of bloodshed and economic chaos. Clan and church leaders restored peace using traditional indigenous institutions: outdoor village courts sanctioned by the state, anthropologists report.