A Papua New Guinea cult is disrupting efforts to deliver relief supplies to an area recently devastated by floods, in the belief that the supplies are a gift from their dead ancestors and are not intended for others.
The cult has interfered with the relief effort in Oro province, where floods caused by a cyclone last month killed 200 people and left thousands homeless.
Police and soldiers have been sent to investigate, and if necessary, arrest the cult's leaders.
'There has been interference with relief supplies by a sect which argues the supplies belong to them,' the province's Anglican bishop, Joseph Kopapa, told Australian radio.
'That is a concern for us because the supplies are needed in many areas and should be equally distributed to everybody.'
Bishop Kopapa said cult leaders had urged their members to build large thatched huts in the jungle to store the goods. Cult adherents reportedly confronted relief volunteers and claimed that they should be given all the emergency aid, which includes tents, food and medicines.