The 34 villagers of Nanoko and Navala have been handed a suspended sentence for riot and unlawful assembly last week.

The Ba Magistrates Court sentenced the 32 villagers to four months imprisonment suspended for 12 months.

The Court also ordered each of them to pay $50 fine.

The villagers had earlier pleaded guilty to their charges.

The villagers of Navala and Nanoko fought over traditional fishing grounds last Wednesday which ended up in a bure being torched and a man being hospitalized.

The villagers of Nanoko were fishing in a river when a group of villagers from Navala approached them and chased them saying that the fishing ground belonged to them.

The Nanoko villagers retaliated and attacked them with knives, spears and stones.

Meanwhile, Police Spokesperson Atunaisa Sokomuri said members of both the villages reconciled on Monday after a Police delegation visited them.