Manipur CM Yumnam Khemchand Singh meets with a 10-member team of church leaders, representing the Council for Baptist Churches in North East India (CBCNEI) and the Manipur Baptist Convention (MBC) on May 18, 2026. Picture: X/@CMO_MANIPUR_
Two church organisations have offered to broker peace between the Kukis and Nagas in ethnic conflict-scarred Manipur amid a “total shutdown” and an “economic blockade” affecting normal life across the State.
A 10-member team of church leaders, representing the Council for Baptist Churches in North East India (CBCNEI) and the Manipur Baptist Convention (MBC), called on Manipur Chief Minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh on Monday (May 18, 2026) to discuss the tense situation between the two tribal communities.
Deputy Chief Minister Losii Dikho also attended the meeting.
According to an official at the Chief Minister’s Office, the church leaders volunteered to facilitate peace between the two communities. They offered to engage two teams for the purpose. While one team will travel to the Kuki-dominated Kangpokpi district, the other will travel to the Naga-majority Senapati district, which borders Nagaland.
More than 40 Nagas and Kukis were held hostage after unidentified gunmen ambushed and killed three church leaders, belonging to the Thadou community, at Zero Point between Kotlen and Kotzim villages in Kangpokpi district on May 13. A section of the Thadous resents being clubbed as Kuki, a set of tribes perceived by many non-Kukis as non-indigenous.
“The role being played by the church leaders in trying to defuse the situation arising out of the hostage crisis is laudable,” the Chief Minister said, encouraging the CBCNEI and MBC to convince leaders of both communities.
“Hostages on both sides need to be released on humanitarian grounds urgently. Apart from talking to the Kuki community and church leaders, our team will travel to Kangpokpi to meet the family members of the three slain church leaders,” a CBCNEI spokesperson said.
The church team will then travel to Senapati to meet Naga church leaders and key members of civil society organisations to discuss the prevailing tense situation and hostage crisis.
On May 15, various Kuki and Naga groups released 28 hostages — 14 each from both communities. The families and organisations of the two communities have been demanding the release of the remaining captives for peace to be ushered in.
Truckers’ appeal
Hundreds of goods-laden and empty trucks have been stranded on highways in the State’s Imphal Valley and Senapati district since a Kuki organisation imposed a “total shutdown” on May 13. The situation escalated after a Naga organisation enforced an “economic blockade” in Naga-inhabited areas on Sunday evening.
National Highway 2, the lifeline of Manipur, meanders through the Senapati and Kangpokpi districts, connecting Imphal with the rest of the country.
“We have been stuck for the past five days and are facing an acute shortage of food and drinking water. Some people helped us with rice and dal, but that is not enough,” a group of drivers of the stranded commercial vehicles said, appealing to the Manipur government to ensure their safe passage.
The drivers also sought security escorts to reach their respective destinations.
The Kuki Inpi Manipur, the apex body of the Kukis, called for a total shutdown to protest the killing of the church leaders and the government’s failure to rescue 14 members of their community from their captors, allegedly in Naga areas.
The United Naga Council, the apex body of the Nagas of Manipur, retaliated with the economic blockade to pressure the government to release six Naga civilians, including two pastors, allegedly held hostage by Kuki extremists.
A Manipur government spokesperson said the security forces continued their search for the missing persons. He said combing operations were being carried out in Kangpokpi and Senapati districts.
Published – May 18, 2026 10:04 pm IST
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