TRIBES from the Ihu and Baimuru local level government (LLG) areas in Gulf who were excluded from the social mapping exercise by the Papua LNG project will submit a position paper during the development forum.
Kikori MP Soroi Eoe this week met with executives of the Purari development authority (PDA) and leaders of the Iaee tribe from Baimuru.
“The meeting was convened to prepare for the upcoming Papua LNG Development Forum and to ensure that tribes located outside the pipeline corridor are not excluded from benefiting from the Papua LNG Project,” he said.
Eoe said the engagement was the beginning of dialogue with the tribes in Baimuru and Ihu which were excluded as beneficiaries from the social mapping study for the Papua LNG Project.
Petroleum Minister Jimmy Maladina yesterday said the development forum would take place in Kerema.
Eoe, who is an anthropologist and former director of the National Museum and Art Gallery, shared historical insights into the common ancestry of the tribes and expressed serious concern over the erosion of cultural values and heritage resulting from existing government and petroleum laws.
He stated that all nine tribes of Baimuru, including those from East and West Ihu LLGs and East Kikori, traced their origins to Purari, and therefore possessed legitimate rights to benefit from the Papua LNG Project.
Eoe concurred with Roy Evara Jnr, representing the PDA, who reaffirmed their position as the voice of the nine Baimuru tribes.
“We are fighting to preserve the identity of our people that has been taken away by the oil and gas laws,” Evara said.
Eoe pledged his full support to PDA’s and other advocacy groups to ensure that all nine Baimuru tribes were recognised and included as beneficiaries of the Papua LNG Project.
He also provided K10,000 in logistical assistance to enable the leaders to return to their electorates and await his visit to continue the dialogue on the ground.