The United States, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), is providing an additional $3.1 million (10.9 million Kina) to support the needs of displaced persons and survivors of violence in the areas most affected by tribal and election violence in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea.
Ongoing violence since May has resulted in at least 400 deaths and displaced nearly 90,000 people across Papua New Guinea’s Enga, Hela, and Southern Highlands provinces, according to the United Nations Resident Coordinator, a.i., Themba Kalua.
USAID’s new funding is in addition to an initial $100,000 (351,500 Kina) in immediate humanitarian assistance delivered in July. The initial support helped meet immediate needs of conflict-affected people by providing critical relief items such as hygiene kits, dignity kits, water containers, and shelter supplies.
The new support will include emergency shelter, protection, food assistance, other vital relief items like dignity kits and hygiene supplies, as well as humanitarian coordination.
At a September 25 press conference, United States Embassy Chargé d'Affaires Joseph Zadrozny said, “This support reinforces the United States government’s commitment to Papua New Guinea. We are expanding our presence here and in the region. The United States stands by the people and government of Papua New Guinea, as a friend, to help when disaster strikes.”
This emergency funding is in addition to long-standing USAID investments in disaster risk reduction programs in Papua New Guinea and across the Pacific that are active year-round. These programs increase the resilience of communities and build the capacity of first responders and local and national government entities to prepare for and respond to disasters.
USAID