Mothers in Papua New Guinea have been forced to resort to infanticide in a tragic bid to end the tribal wars that have devastated the Eastern Highlands for the last 20 years, it has been claimed.

All baby boys born in the last 10 years have been killed at birth, according to two women from rival tribes.

The long running inter-tribal battles have left the women of the remote Gimi region struggling to feed their families.

In desperation, they agreed to murder their sons to reduce the number of men who could go into battle, the mothers told PNG's National newspaper.

In a chilling echo of Herod's massacre of the innocents, Rona Luke and Kipiyona Belas said the women smothered their sons at birth to force an end to the tribal conflicts.

"All the women folk agreed to have all male babies born killed because they have had enough of men engaging in tribal conflicts and bringing misery to them,” they said.

Mrs Luke, from Agibu village, said: "It's a terrible, unbearable crime, but the women had to do it.

"The women have really being forced into it as it's the only means available to them as women to bring an end to the terrible fights that have brought death and destruction to our villages for the past 20 years," she said.

"The women have had enough of men bringing misery to them."

Mrs Belas from the rival Amosa village, said it was almost impossible to get food for their families because they were left to fend for themselves while their husbands were at war.

The women made the claims after being brought to Goroka, the capital of the Eastern Highlands, to attend a peace and reconciliation meeting aimed at resolving the conflicts.

In the jungles of Gimi, where many tribes still live in near stone age conditions, tribal fighting has continued unchecked since 1986. Some begin over rival land claims but many are triggered by accusations of sorcery that inevitably lead to tit for tat killings.

Even if peace is negotiated between the two sides, it seldom lasts.

The claims of infanticide, though shocking, have not surprised sociologists in Papua New Guinea

"Those tribes are so remote that whatever happens up there (in Gimi) doesn't come out," Diana Panta of the University of Goroka told The Times.

"They could be doing anything to each other and noone would ever know."

The massacre of baby boys would be devastating for the tribes involved, she said. "If they kill the baby boys they are killing the tribe," she said.

"Traditionally women and children were kept out of the battles. But they are being targeted, now. They have to stop the fighting to save themselves, and to save the tribes from dying out. But by killing the baby boys, they have made sure there will be noone in the next generation to carry on.

"It's a terrible decision for them to make. Whatever happens, it is the women and children who have become the victims of these wars."

Organisers of the peace and reconciliation conference, however, are optimistic that the conflicts might be resolved.

Pastor Michael Hemuno, who helped bring members of rival tribes down from the hill regions to the meeting said he hoped it would encourage tribal warriors to lay down their weapons and talk peace.

"We are trying to get them to live peacefully and end all the deaths of young and old," he said.

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