Overview: from customary warfare to professionalised violence in Enga

Enga Province in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands is experiencing several protracted conflicts that have significantly transformed their nature, intensity and humanitarian consequences. What was historically characterised as customary tribal warfare, governed by ritual, traditional authority and established protocols for conflict resolution, has evolved into sustained, low-intensity warfare marked by professionalised violence, the widespread use of modern firearms and the systematic targeting of civilian populations.

This evolution presents substantial challenges for humanitarian response, governance and sustainable peace, and requires comprehensive analysis to inform effective intervention strategies. The report draws on multiple sources:

• documented incidents from January 2025 through January 2026, compiled from media reports, humanitarian situation reports and official records;
• assessment reports from humanitarian organisations including the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF);
• key informant interviews with community members, humanitarian personnel and local authorities;
• analysis of government response measures, including police operations and States of Emergency;
• primary documentation from community-led initiatives across eight communities in Enga Province, including the Kaipale Community Peacebuilding Committee by-laws developed with the support of CARE International in Papua New Guinea (CARE).

Geographic scope

The report covers the most affected areas of Enga Province, with particular attention to Wapenamanda district as the primary flashpoint during 2025, while also documenting violence in Kompiam-Ambum, Kandep, Wabag, Lagaip and Porgera-Paela districts. It acknowledges that conflict effects extend beyond provincial boundaries, with displaced populations seeking refuge in neighbouring provinces and disputes following individuals across district lines.

Enga Province, Papua New Guinea. Capital: Wabag. Districts: 5. Population: 490,000 to 570,000. Area: 11,704 km². Neighbouring areas shown: West Sepik, East Sepik, Hela Province, Jiwaka Province and Mount Hagen. Photo © Benson Wanguare / CARE PNG

Executive summary: a complex emergency in Enga driven by four factors

The conflict in Enga Province has fundamentally transformed from historically regulated tribal warfare into a complex emergency characterised by unprecedented brutality, professionalised violence and catastrophic humanitarian consequences. The transformation is driven by four interrelated factors:

1. 1
   Proliferation of illegal modern firearms. Lethality has increased dramatically, with the majority of clashes now involving guns.
2. 2
   Erosion of traditional authority. The structures that once regulated conflict have weakened.
3. 3
   Resource competition. Disputes over land and resources feed and prolong fighting.
4. 4
   Police presence and limited rural services. Low state presence leaves a governance vacuum in rural areas.

These factors have combined to produce professionalised violence, with clans hiring mercenaries who operate outside traditional kinship constraints and without the social boundaries that once limited atrocities. The humanitarian impact has been severe and multifaceted, with violence concentrating in Wapenamanda district while spreading to Kompiam-Ambum and Lagaip-Porgera. Key incidents include the Middle Lai Valley conflict displacing thousands of women and children, sorcery-related killings claiming six lives in three months, and the collapse of critical infrastructure, including school and health facility closures.

Community Peacebuilding Committees rally in Enga Province. Photo © Benson Wanguare / CARE PNG

Gender-based violence has emerged as a systematic feature of the conflict. The use of women and girls as payment to hired mercenaries is a vicious evolution that weaponises their bodies as currency to fuel professionalised tribal warfare. The catastrophic lack of dedicated safe houses for survivors across all districts is a systemic failure that leaves victims trapped with their abusers and unable to access basic protection.

Humanitarian access is constrained by three interrelated barriers: security impediments, including armed escorts and informal roadblocks demanding payment; physical constraints posed by mountainous terrain and severely degraded infrastructure; and perceptual barriers arising from a crisis of trust between stakeholders.

Despite these challenges, communities themselves maintain clear distinctions between combatants and neutral humanitarian actors, and view aid organisations as valued partners rather than targets: a critical yet underused asset for improving access. Government response efforts have shown limited effectiveness, with conventional peacebuilding through court-ordered ceasefires and mediated agreements repeatedly failing. The Kaipale Community Peacebuilding Committee, facilitated by CARE, shows that acceptance-based engagement and community-owned solutions offer a scalable pathway for conflict mitigation; its by-laws were formally endorsed by provincial authorities in October 2025, a rare alignment between grassroots initiatives and state recognition.

Persons with disabilities (PWDs) in Enga rely primarily on under-resourced community-based organisations, such as the Kun Women Association & Disability Centre, for protection and support. During conflict-related displacement, families often leave persons with disabilities behind during evacuations, and the organisations providing care lack government assistance, sustained funding and specialised equipment for safe evacuation. Persons with disabilities are also systematically excluded from peacebuilding and community decision-making because of physical inaccessibility, a lack of communication resources such as sign language interpretation, and prevailing negative social attitudes.

Humanitarian and governance structures in Enga show gaps in disability inclusion, including insufficient data collection, exclusionary aid distribution and the absence of disability representation in coordination mechanisms. While international organisations acknowledge the need to target vulnerable groups, implementation remains limited. Closing these gaps requires integrating disability inclusion into humanitarian response through caregiver training, reliable mobility-aid supply chains and formal linkages between community-based organisations and provincial disaster or peace committees.

A breakdown of traditional peace structures in Enga, 2025 to early 2026

The conflict landscape in Enga Province throughout 2025 and into early 2026 has been defined by a complete breakdown of traditional peace structures and the widespread use of high-powered illegal firearms, transforming sporadic clashes into a sustained and multifaceted humanitarian crisis. The escalation is defined by the simultaneous eruption of multiple, often interrelated conflicts that deliberately targeted civilians and critical infrastructure, a stark departure from the constraints of historical warfare. This period laid bare a new and brutal reality: armed fighters, employing rifles and guerrilla tactics, deliberately targeted essential services.

How the old rules of tribal warfare in Enga were eroded

Traditional Enga society was organised around patrilineal clans, which provided identity, land and security, with warfare viewed as a last resort to resolve disputes and re-establish balance between clans. Conflicts followed specific procedures, including clan meetings and formalised engagements, and were often contained through compensation payments.

This historical foundation has been systematically eroded by modern pressures. The proliferation of an estimated fifty thousand illegal modern firearms has dramatically increased lethality, with high-powered factory-made weapons replacing traditional implements and resulting in higher death tolls. At the same time, the authority of traditional leaders has diminished, and a large youth population with few economic alternatives is easily mobilised by those seeking to use conflict for political or economic gain.

A detailed conflict timeline is set out in Annex I: Conflict Timeline.

Enga in 2025: violence beyond Wapenamanda

While Wapenamanda district experienced a series of clashes in 2025, the violence was not confined to that area. Other districts, including Kompiam-Ambum and Lagaip-Porgera, also recorded violent incidents. The year was marked by a series of devastating incidents that illustrate the conflict’s evolution:

Ongoing community efforts addressing root causes of conflict. Photo © Benson Wanguare / CARE PNG

These events were not isolated but interrelated, with many fights representing spillovers from previous unsettled disputes, unpaid compensation agreements and tribal affiliations. Today’s violence is deeply rooted in a history of unresolved grievances, now amplified by modern weaponry.

Relentless violence engulfed the second half of 2025, exemplified by the protracted conflict between the Yakuman and Yangukim tribes. The fighting persisted despite court-ordered ceasefires and a high-level peace agreement in Port Moresby, which collapsed within days. Armed fighters forced the closure of the Mambisanda Rural Hospital by burning staff houses. In a separate incident, armed fighters repeatedly blocked the Porgera Highway, severing access to the province’s primary economic asset and showing a clear intent to weaponise infrastructure as a means of coercion and disruption.

Government responses, ranging from peace negotiations to aggressive policing, have proved largely ineffective in containing the violence, prompting a shift towards more stringent state interventions such as “Operation Kumul 23” and the expanded “War on Guns”. Conventional peacebuilding attempts throughout late 2025 repeatedly failed, as agreements were rendered meaningless by new tribes entering existing conflicts and by the lack of enforcement mechanisms.

Clan, gender and the woman made “invisible” in Enga society

Traditional Enga society was organised around patrilineal clans, which provided identity, land and security. A strict separation of the sexes defined community life: men dominated the public sphere of warfare and politics, while women remained in the private sphere as primary agricultural producers and caregivers, systematically excluded from formal decision-making.

The prevalence of women-headed households in the three assessed communities is primarily a consequence of male absence resulting from deaths in tribal warfare, illness, abandonment due to polygamous marriages, labour migration or disability. In Enga’s rigid patriarchal structure, a woman’s access to land, security and social identity is traditionally mediated through her male relatives. When this structure collapses, she is rendered socially “invisible” and placed in an unstable position.

Humanitarian needs in Enga: a governance deficit and urgent psychosocial needs

The humanitarian impact has been severe and multifaceted. It is compounded by a severe governance deficit, including critically low police presence that leaves vast areas without state security, and the near-total absence of basic services in rural communities, which deepens grievances and creates a vacuum filled by armed groups.

IOM’s rapid Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) assessments consistently highlight the urgent need for Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) services, as documented in the November 2025 Kukas landslide response, where community leaders specifically requested MHPSS for grieving families and survivors. Urgent intervention is needed both to protect economic lifelines and to create alternative livelihood opportunities.

Stability in Enga: firearms, the governance vacuum and Porgera

The strategic shift in government response reflects a growing, if belated, recognition that addressing the proliferation of modern firearms and the governance vacuum is as critical as negotiating ceasefires, especially with violence continuing to flare in Porgera between clans and settlers, disrupting mining operations and demonstrating the conflict’s enduring volatility.

The proliferation of an estimated fifty thousand illegal modern firearms has dramatically increased lethality, with high-powered factory-made weapons replacing traditional implements. The Porgera Gold Mine acts as a major flashpoint, exacerbating tensions over royalties, land access and benefit distribution among clans and communities.

Gender-based violence in Enga: violence against women as a tool of war

A strict separation of the sexes defined community life, with men dominating the public sphere of warfare and politics while women remained in the private sphere as primary agricultural producers and caregivers. This historical foundation has been systematically eroded by modern pressures that have fundamentally altered the conflict landscape.

The absence of robust community follow-up mechanisms and awareness campaigns allows the harmful social norms that justify gender-based violence (GBV) and sorcery accusation-related violence (SARV) to persist unchallenged, enabling the intergenerational cycle of violence to continue. The research findings indicate that without sustained community engagement, the ideologies that normalise violence against women and girls remain entrenched and are passed from one generation to the next.

Gender-based violence

Gender-based violence has emerged as a systematic feature of the conflict. The systematic use of women and girls as a form of payment to hired mercenaries is a vicious evolution of GBV in Enga, weaponising their bodies as currency to fuel the professionalisation of tribal conflict. The practice marks a stark departure from traditional norms that often spared non-combatants, and has turned GBV into a strategic tool of warfare. Women and girls are forcibly given to armed fighters, constituting conflict-related sexual slavery that serves multiple tactical purposes for warring clans.

“The systematic use of women and girls as a form of payment to hired mercenaries represents a vicious evolution of gender-based violence in Enga, weaponizing their bodies as currency…”

First, it acts as a recruitment and retention mechanism, providing a non-monetary incentive for mercenaries, who operate without kinship ties or the social constraints that might have limited such atrocities in the past. Second, gang rape, mutilation and murder are used as deliberate weapons to terrorise, humiliate and dismantle the social fabric of enemy tribes, inflicting generational trauma that extends far beyond the immediate victims.

This systemic violence has created a public health crisis, with survivors facing heightened risks of sexually transmitted infections, including HIV, unintended pregnancies, and severe physical and psychological trauma. The fear and stigma surrounding sexual violence, compounded by the collapse of healthcare services due to the conflict, mean that most survivors never seek or receive medical attention, allowing preventable conditions to worsen and perpetuating a cycle of silence and suffering that undermines community resilience.

The catastrophic lack of dedicated safe houses for GBV survivors across all districts of Enga Province is a systemic failure that leaves victims trapped with their abusers and unable to access the most basic protection. Key informant interviews (KIIs) reveal that without secure, confidential spaces, survivors of rape, sexual slavery and intimate partner violence have no means of escaping their abusers, rendering all other forms of psychosocial and medical support fundamentally ineffective. A woman who has been gang-raped by mercenaries, or who has fled an abusive husband, has nowhere to go; she is forced to remain in the same community, often close to her attackers, where she faces continued threats, re-victimisation and the daily trauma of encountering those who harmed her.

The gap is particularly acute in displacement, where women fleeing tribal violence end up in overcrowded, informal settlements with no privacy and limited protection, conditions the report identifies as significantly increasing the risk of other forms of GBV. Without safe houses there is also no secure location from which survivors can access legal recourse or medical care, which denies them justice and perpetuates a culture of impunity. For displaced women who have already lost their homes, livelihoods and communities to the conflict, the lack of a safe refuge is a second layer of abandonment, this time by the very humanitarian system that exists to protect them.

Women’s economic vulnerability

The gendered economic toll: how conflict destroys women’s livelihoods in Enga.

The conflict has devastated agriculture, the primary source of income for most Engans, by making farmland inaccessible and destroying crops. For women, who are the primary farmers, this means a total loss of livelihood and economic independence. Prolonged fighting forces farmers to flee and abandon their land, leaving crops to rot in the fields, and farms are frequently caught in the crossfire and destroyed during clashes. The decimation of the food supply chain cripples the local markets where produce is sold, creating a cycle of food insecurity and economic collapse that affects the entire population.

The closure of local markets, a direct consequence of the violence, has severely affected women, who dominate the informal trade sector. Without markets their main source of cash income vanishes, and their goods, often their only assets, become worthless. In several communities in Lagaip district and elsewhere, markets are either forcibly closed because of the danger or abandoned because surrounding villages have been destroyed or deserted. Vendors, the vast majority of them women, are left with no customers and no way to sell perishable goods such as vegetables and fruit. With no refrigeration or safe storage, their crops spoil within days, turning potential income into total loss.

The combination of destroyed farms and non-functional markets is a direct assault on women’s economic agency. For generations, farming and selling produce at local markets has been the principal, and often only, source of independent income for women in Enga. By severing the link between production and sale, the conflict has pushed families deeper into poverty and dismantled the social and economic structures that gave women a measure of power and self-reliance.

Female-headed households and social exclusion

The destabilisation of traditional male-headed households, driven by conflict and cultural practices, has created a surge of highly vulnerable female-headed households facing systemic land disinheritance and social invisibility. The loss of male mediation is the root cause of the extreme challenges that follow, stripping them of their traditional safety net and exposing them to predation and poverty.

Beyond economic hardship, female-headed households face severe social violence, including sexual exploitation and deadly accusations of sorcery, because of the absence of male protectors. They are frequently made scapegoats for community misfortunes and face horrific accusations of sorcery (Sanguma), as shown by reports of a woman who was burned alive and rescued by her relatives after they discovered she was still alive. The lack of protection also exposes them to sexual violence, where they may be coerced into “survival sex” in exchange for food or safety, sometimes by their own family members. These threats are compounded by a complete loss of social status: a woman’s worth, traditionally tied to her husband, evaporates in his absence, leading to psychological and emotional distress.

Leadership exclusion

Despite playing a critical role in family survival and informal conflict mediation, women in Enga are systematically excluded from formal clan and political decision-making. This exclusion, reinforced by rigid patriarchal norms, silences their voices on land disputes, conflict resolution and resource distribution, perpetuating a cycle of invisibility, vulnerability and institutional instability.

Women exercise a degree of informal influence, managing daily household welfare, mediating behind the scenes during conflicts and gaining respect through pig husbandry, but this power does not translate into public decision-making in the formal clan meetings where land disputes and warfare are decided.

Land and displacement in Enga: disinheritance and displaced classrooms

Disinheritance and economic exclusion are at the core of the crisis for female-headed households, trapping them in a cycle of poverty, malnutrition and dependency. The most immediate consequence of losing a male head of household is the threat of disinheritance from land. Without sons to secure the lineage’s claim, widows are often forcibly evicted or denied access to productive areas by their husband’s clan, forcing many into dependency as unpaid labourers in the homes of male relatives.

The conflict has displaced thousands of women and children from the Middle Lai Valley. As documented in the IOM DTM Report (November 2025), schools in wards such as Yambali and Pokolip have been reoccupied as temporary IDP shelters, which means that even when conflict temporarily subsides, the physical spaces of learning remain occupied by displaced populations.

Enga’s economy: Porgera, the Highlands Highway and household poverty

The Porgera Gold Mine is a major flashpoint, exacerbating tensions over royalties, land access and benefit distribution among clans and communities. Violence continues to flare in Porgera between clans and settlers, disrupting mining operations. In a significant incident in January, armed groups seized control of sections of the open pit.

The turmoil was exacerbated on 2 March 2025 by a deadly confrontation between state forces and Sakar tribal miners, which led to the destruction of heavy machinery and effectively blocked the Highlands Highway.

For female-headed households, the inability to perform labour-intensive agricultural tasks without male support leads to insufficient food and malnutrition. Limited education, a lack of start-up capital and market harassment prevent them from engaging in business, leaving them unable to afford school fees, healthcare or basic necessities, and cementing their extreme poverty.

Healthcare in Enga: facilities on the front line, one centre for a province

Conflict-related barriers, resource limitations and infrastructure vulnerabilities.

Ongoing tribal conflict actively restricts civilian movement and directly compromises the safety and accessibility of health facilities, creating significant physical risks for both patients and medical personnel. People needing treatment at facilities in areas controlled by rival clans face systematic denial of access, with documented incidents of patients and health workers being stopped, attacked or killed. Health infrastructure is frequently located within active conflict zones.

1. January 2025IOM assessment documents the burning of homes about two kilometres from the Mulitaka Health Facility.
2. September 2025Violence in Wapenamanda forces the complete shutdown of multiple health centres; fighters use the facilities as battlegrounds and nearly ten people are killed in their vicinity.
3. October 2025Staff houses at the Emmanuel Rural Lutheran Hospital in Mambisanda are destroyed, leading to the temporary closure of the hospital and denying life-saving care to thousands.

The Enga Provincial Health Authority (PHA) operates with constrained resources, facing critical shortages of specialist health workers and insufficient logistics infrastructure to serve remote communities. The authority has acknowledged that workforce shortages remain a significant hurdle. The lack of specialised personnel, such as surgeons and obstetricians, is compounded by unreliable supply chains: medical supplies frequently fail to reach frontline clinics because of damaged roads, ongoing violence and a lack of functional ambulances. When equipment is available, it often falls into disrepair because of limited local maintenance capacity. Even when patients successfully navigate conflict zones, they may find facilities without electricity, essential medicines or the specialist expertise needed.

This concentration of demand highlights the vulnerabilities of a highly centralised service delivery model. The interaction of conflict-related access restrictions, systemic resource limitations and over-reliance on a single facility creates a fragile healthcare environment that requires coordinated efforts to improve safe access, invest in health infrastructure and personnel, and develop more resilient, decentralised service networks.

Education in Enga: school grounds turned into battlegrounds

Conflict-related school closures, student displacement and learning barriers in 2025.

Data from Wapenamanda District for 2025 show that at least six elementary schools and multiple secondary institutions were forcibly closed as armed tribal warriors turned school grounds into battlegrounds, throwing national Grade 8, 10 and 12 examinations into uncertainty for hundreds of students.

The September 2025 escalation between the Yakuman and Yangukim tribes forced the closure of Wapenamanda Four Square Primary and Secondary Schools, Wapenamanda International School, STC Vocational Centre and at least six local elementary schools. Armed combatants held these facilities as active conflict zones, exposing students and staff to lethal danger; nearly ten people were killed in the immediate vicinity of school grounds.

“Most of our children have dropped out of school and are living in other villages as refugees.”

Displaced mothers from the Middle Lai Valley

Student displacement has created a crisis of educational access and psychological trauma, with children forced to live as refugees in unfamiliar communities, unable to cross tribal boundaries to attend school and facing the constant threat of violence when they try to travel. The IOM DTM Report (November 2025) notes that travel to schools in the Wapenamanda and Minamb Valley conflict zones now requires heavy security escorts, which are rarely available to civilians. Even where school buildings remain standing and teachers are present, students physically cannot cross tribal boundaries to attend. This is a permanent barrier to education that no amount of infrastructure reconstruction can solve without concurrent peacebuilding and safe passage guarantees.

The psychological impact of recurring conflict shows up as chronic difficulty concentrating, with students perpetually hypervigilant and unable to focus when fear of the next outbreak dominates. Key informants said that if tribal fighting continues, students’ minds become “already disturbed”, preventing the focused attention needed for learning.

The cumulative effect, as documented by UNICEF’s humanitarian programming, is that over 3,300 children in conflict-affected wards had their education fully suspended as of late 2025, creating a lost generation whose development has been permanently altered by prolonged exposure to violence and educational deprivation.

Disability inclusion in Enga: protection risks, participation barriers and gaps in support

Caregiver-led protection and critical gaps in safety nets

The protection of persons with disabilities in Enga relies almost exclusively on under-resourced community-based organisations, leaving this population acutely vulnerable during conflict-related displacement. The Kun Women Association & Disability Centre in Sirunki Community is a critical but strained safety net.

As primary caregiver and service provider, the organisation supports 20 PWDs across the community. Four individuals, primarily with limb disabilities and one non-speaking, currently reside at the centre for direct care; the remainder live in the community with their families or primary caregivers. (The source also gives a breakdown of four males and one female, with the remaining 15 residing in the community.) The lived experience of these individuals, as described by the non-PWD caregiver who manages the centre, is defined by acute neglect during crises. When violent conflict erupts, PWDs are frequently abandoned by family members, left behind during mass evacuations, and miss essential meals.

The caregiver’s role has expanded to fill this void, providing emergency evacuation support and essential supplies such as food and soap. But the response is constrained by a lack of government assistance and severe resource limitations. Private sector partners such as Kina Bank donated wheelchairs and crutches in 2025, and CARE PNG initiated livelihood projects, but recurring cycles of conflict have disrupted consistent support, leaving the organisation without the sustained funding or specialised equipment needed to ensure PWDs can evacuate safely during sudden flare-ups.

Systemic exclusion from peacebuilding and decision-making

Persons with disabilities are systematically excluded from conflict resolution and community decision-making because of environmental barriers, a lack of communication resources and prevailing negative attitudes. The current approach to peace and security does not account for their needs or voices; KIIs reveal that PWDs are never involved in discussions or initiatives on conflict resolution or community safety.

This exclusion is driven by three intersecting barriers: communication limitations, physical inaccessibility and insufficient resources. For people with speech impairments or intellectual disabilities, the absence of sign language interpretation or alternative communication training makes meaningful participation impossible. Community meeting venues are not physically accessible for those with mobility aids, or for those who lack aids entirely. KIIs also showed that persons with multiple disabilities, including combined physical and communication impairments, face the highest degree of marginalisation. These barriers are compounded by frequently negative community attitudes towards PWDs, which reinforce their invisibility in governance structures. For peacebuilding to be sustainable, conflict resolution mechanisms must respond to the diverse needs of people with disabilities, ensure accessibility and use approaches that enable the full participation of all community members.

Operational gaps and the need for sustainable disability inclusion

Existing humanitarian mechanisms and governance structures in Enga show critical gaps in disability inclusion: inadequate data collection, exclusionary aid distribution practices and no disability representation in coordination mechanisms.

Despite the presence of international organisations, there is a critical lack of targeted capacity-building, government support and coordinated advocacy to ensure disability inclusion in humanitarian and conflict response frameworks. In Sirunki, the operational landscape is characterised by unfulfilled commitments and a lack of specialised capacity. The centre reports receiving no formal government support and lacks training in essential areas such as physiotherapy management or sign language interpretation. The caregiver described a pattern in which organisations run awareness campaigns but fail to complete proposed support projects, leaving the centre with inconsistent resources.

The intersection of age, gender and disability creates additional barriers; older persons with disabilities and women with disabilities are particularly marginalised. IOM’s response framework acknowledges this by targeting “the most vulnerable persons, such as women, persons living with disabilities, and older people”, yet implementation remains challenged by the complexity of Enga’s conflict dynamics. Ongoing tensions between displaced and host populations competing for scarce aid further marginalise people with disabilities, who are often deprioritised in distribution queues.

Disability inclusion in fragile contexts: policy framework and conflict-responsive implementation

The National Policy on Disability (NPD) 2015 to 2025 marks a fundamental shift from a welfare-based to a rights-based framework, codified through Papua New Guinea’s (PNG) ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Its vision, “Remove Barriers, Make Rights Real”, applies directly to conflict-affected settings like Enga, where displacement, shattered kin support and damaged infrastructure magnify the vulnerabilities of persons with disabilities. The policy works through three coordinated strategies:

• Advocacy and rights awareness, led by the PNG Assembly of Disabled Persons, which in a conflict context demands that humanitarian actors and peace processes actively include persons with disabilities in protection and decision-making.
• Service delivery improvement through Community Based Rehabilitation, essential for rebuilding accessible health, education and livelihood networks in disrupted communities.
• Institutional strengthening, led by the Department for Community Development and Religion, including the creation of a Disability Authority and a ten-year funding plan to embed disability inclusion in development and emergency governance.

Decentralised coordination through Provincial Coordinating Committees on Disability, and alignment with provincial budgets (including DSIP), provides the operational architecture to turn national commitments into local resilience, which is critical in unstable regions where sub-national governments are the primary responders. By mandating multi-stakeholder planning, performance management and CRPD-aligned monitoring, the NPD creates accountability for ensuring that persons with disabilities are not excluded from humanitarian assistance, conflict-sensitive recovery or long-term development. Applied to Enga, the framework offers a concrete pathway to integrate disability-inclusive evacuation plans, accessible service delivery and targeted social protection into both peacebuilding and the province’s annual planning cycle.

Policy commitments versus implementation gaps

A disconnect between policy-level inclusion and on-the-ground implementation characterises the integration of disability into conflict and disaster response in Enga. On the positive side, humanitarian actors and government structures increasingly acknowledge the specific vulnerabilities of people with disabilities:

• In its emergency response to the 2024 Mulitaka landslide, which occurred amid ongoing tribal conflict and displacement, IOM explicitly stated that its assistance would target “the most vulnerable persons, such as women, persons living with disability, and older people”.
• In February 2026, the Enga Provincial Government, with IOM and other stakeholders, held a Disaster Risk Management workshop with a dedicated focus on Gender Equality, Disability and Social Inclusion (GEDSI) as a core component of the new provincial strategy, a growing, if recent, effort to institutionalise disability inclusion in governance.
• Reports recognise that “people with disabilities” are among the populations facing heightened risks of violence and exclusion from aid, showing awareness of their needs.

Humanitarian access in Enga: security, physical and perceptual barriers

Humanitarian access in Enga is constrained by three categories of barrier that interact with one another.

The interplay of barriers and the need for strategic coordination

The three categories of barrier do not operate in isolation. Together they create a self-perpetuating cycle that reinforces community isolation and humanitarian marginalisation. Road degradation feeds perceptions of abandonment, which can lead youth to erect roadblocks as protest or to extract resources from passing traffic. The withdrawal of state services, driven by perceived risk, deepens the governance vacuum in which armed groups and informal checkpoints flourish. The resulting violence discourages investment in roads and services, perpetuating physical isolation.

Who is involved in the Enga conflict and response

Acceptance works where armed escorts do not

CARE International’s experience in Enga demonstrates the practical application of this principle. The organisation used deep-rooted community relationships and direct dialogue with local leaders to operate in areas perceived as inaccessible. This acceptance-based approach proved more effective than state-provided security mechanisms, confirming that legitimacy grounded in community trust offers a resilient pathway for aid delivery even when formal security protocols are insufficient or absent.

Three recommendations for principled humanitarian access in Enga

To address these challenges, NGOs and UN agencies must adopt a unified strategy built on three interconnected recommendations.

This coordinated approach draws on community acceptance, builds effective relationships with authorities, and manages operational risks collectively while upholding humanitarian principles.

Community-led peacebuilding: CARE International’s grassroots initiative

CARE International’s facilitation of the Community Peacebuilding Committees (CPCs) shows that acceptance-based engagement, not security protocols, enabled a community in a conflict-affected district to govern itself and codify laws against the drivers of tribal violence.

The Peace Committees, made up of community leaders, women and youth, developed a comprehensive set of community by-laws targeting conflict triggers identified through participatory discussions:

• substance abuse;
• family and sexual violence;
• land disputes;
• election-related violence;
• the proliferation of weapons such as firearms, bush knives and axes.

The by-laws set clear community-level penalties and reinforce formal legal prohibitions, creating a hybrid governance mechanism that bridges customary practice and state law.

The Kaipale Community Peacebuilding Committee in Enga

CARE International facilitation session with community women. Photo © Benson Wanguare / CARE PNG

The Kaipale Community Peacebuilding Committee (KCPC) is a community-led peace committee that unites the four sub-clans of the Lyein tribe. Through its Peacebuilding and Livelihood Support Project, CARE International in Papua New Guinea established the KCPC in eight communities to empower local clans to address the root causes of tribal conflict. The committee unites the four sub-clans of the Lyein tribe, Wapan, Pape Naimi, Ponap and Sandal, to manage and prevent social destabilisation together. By investing in sustained relationship-building and legitimising community-owned solutions, CARE enabled a locally driven peace process in a conflict-affected district without relying on formal security protocols.

The methodology has proved highly effective, with a sustained reduction in tribal violence and a clear cultural shift towards dialogue among participating clans. An analysis of the project’s impact shows a significant decline in hostilities since its inception, breaking cycles of retaliatory violence. This was demonstrated during an isolated altercation in September, when the targeted clan, drawing directly on its peacebuilding training, chose de-escalation through dialogue rather than retaliation. Qualitative data from KIIs indicate that these principles are cascading outward to neighbouring tribes who could not take part in the initial trainings. Despite access constraints such as poor roads, the message of conflict resolution is taking root organically, suggesting the programme’s influence extends well beyond its immediate geographic scope.

Effective GBV prevention requires more than responding to incidents after they occur; it demands continuous dialogue within communities to challenge beliefs that position women as property, as legitimate targets of violence, or as appropriate sacrifices in times of crisis through sorcery accusations. Without follow-up for survivors, a woman who musters the courage to report an assault or escape a violent situation returns to a community that has not been engaged in understanding the wrongs of GBV, where she may be stigmatised, blamed or re-victimised. This systemic neglect sends a clear message that violence against women is tolerable, undermining the community-owned peacebuilding initiatives that the report identifies as the only viable path to sustainable peace.

As the Kaipale Community Peacebuilding Committee’s by-laws demonstrate, communities themselves recognise the need to address these issues. But without external actors providing resources for awareness campaigns and follow-up programmes, these local efforts cannot achieve the scale or sustainability needed to shift deeply entrenched social norms across the province.

Peacebuilding in Enga: a fragile multi-track system

Participants holding a banner for Peace and Unity in Enga. Photo © Benson Wanguare / CARE PNG

Peace efforts rely on a fragile multi-track system in which religious institutions provide the most consistent grassroots mediation, while state-led initiatives struggle with enforcement. Peacebuilding in Enga depends on a delicate combination of state, religious and international actors:

Key actors in the Enga conflict: from clan feuds to proxy wars

The conflict has transformed from localised tribal feuds into a complex web of proxy wars, in which external mercenaries increasingly undermine traditional clan structures. The landscape is no longer defined by isolated clan battles but by intricate networks of shifting alliances and indirect warfare.

Clans remain the central traditional actors, but the situation is significantly complicated by hired mercenaries from neighbouring provinces. These outsiders operate outside customary tribal law, which makes them resistant to traditional mediation. The conflict is also heavily politicised: local leaders and elites often supply logistical backing, turning what were once communal grievances into wider struggles for political power that extend well beyond traditional territorial boundaries.

Shifts in authority and the security dilemma

The influx of high-powered firearms has shifted authority from traditional elders to young warlords, creating a security vacuum in which tribes arm themselves because they see state forces as inadequate. Advanced weaponry has destabilised traditional power hierarchies, transferring influence from tribal elders and Luluai (village chiefs) to younger, armed “warlords”. In this new order, military firepower has largely supplanted the customary moral authority that once governed conflict resolution and compensation.

The imbalance is worsened by the limited presence of state security. When the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary (RPNGC) and the PNG Defence Force (PNGDF) appear under-resourced, local tribes feel compelled to stockpile weapons for self-defence. The result is a volatile security dilemma in which no single entity holds a monopoly on legitimate force.

Conflict actor matrix

Three phases, from bows and arrows to “domestic terrorism”

Historically, conflict in Enga was defined by traditional tribal fighting with bows and arrows, regulated by strict social codes and “big-man” mediation. This changed radically with the introduction of modern military-grade firearms (M16s, AR15s) and the hiring of “mercenaries”, gunmen from outside the clans. Conflict has turned from a means of dispute resolution into a cycle of destruction, or “tribal warfare”, driven by political rivalries and disputes over land and resources, notably the Porgera Gold Mine. By early 2024 the violence reached a tipping point with the Wapenamanda massacre, prompting the government to label the situation “domestic terrorism” and launch major security interventions such as “Operation Kumul 23”.

Sources cited in the Enga report

1. The National, November 2024
2. UNFPA, June 2025
3. UN Action Report, 2025
4. Humanitarian Highlights, UNTC PNG, January 2025
5. Post Courier, August 2025
6. ACAPS, October 2024
7. IOM, November 2025
8. ACAPS Humanitarian Analysis, October 2024
9. UNFPA, September 2025
10. IOM DTM Report, November 2025
11. The National, January 2025
12. ACLED, March 2025
13. ACAPS, July 2024
14. UNFPA, June 2025
15. IOM DTM Report, November 2025
16. UNICEF, July 2025
17. IOM, May 2024
18. IOM, October 2024
19. The PNG Bulletin, February 2026
20. DevPolicy, July 2024
21. Post Courier, August 2025
22. New Age BD, February 2024

Numbered as in the original report. Full links are available in the PDF edition.

Produced by SARI Global and CARE PNG

This report is a collaborative initiative aimed at providing a comprehensive, evidence-based understanding of the conflict dynamics in Enga Province. By highlighting critical vulnerabilities, operational constraints and successful community-led initiatives, the analysis seeks to inform strategic humanitarian interventions, foster inclusive governance and drive sustainable peacebuilding across the region.

SARI Global and CARE PNG announced a joint webinar, “Enga Province Conflict and Context Analysis”, for Wednesday 6 May at 15:30 Papua New Guinea time to discuss the findings. Read more about CARE’s work in Papua New Guinea.

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