Salvos deny PNG 'baby killing' reports

By Papua New Guinea correspondent Steve Marshall

Salvation Army workers in Papua New Guinea have dismissed reports that women in the remote Highlands region are killing male babies to end a tribal war that has spanned more than 20 years.

Newspapers have reported that women in the Eastern Highlands are murdering their own baby boys to avoid the pain of losing them as men in a long running tribal fight.

The Salvation Army is working in the region to bring peace to warring tribes and said the women were speaking hypothetically at a peace and reconciliation workshop.

A spokeswoman said the Highlands women are making the point that there are so many murders they might as well kill their newborn boys themselves, rather than go through the pain of losing them in tribal fights.