Unreported World: Rambo Nation

Channel 4's critically-acclaimed foreign affairs series continues its ninth run. In the third programme of the series, journalist Sam Kiley visits Papua New Guinea to investigate the worsening state of tribal conflicts on the island. He discovers that the fighting has become far more lethal with the introduction of modern firearms into local disputes. Every villager now has a gun of some sort, resulting in a huge increase in the number of homicides. In centuries past when tribes fought with spears the death rate was much lower. Now the tribes watch American war films and the leader of the fighting is always called Rambo. And it's not only the name that has been picked up from Hollywood; these days the tribal warriors also paint their faces to look like Rambo. The money for all the guns comes from the booming trade in cannabis, grown high in the mountains and then exported to Australia, which is only a boat ride away.