RED CROSS SETS UP TENTS FOR BAWKU CONFLICT VICTIMS (BACK PAGE)

THE International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has intensified its efforts in Bawku to ensure that members of the public gain access to humanitarian services in view of the conflict in the municipality.
The organisation in collaboration with the security agencies in the area intends to set up tents at vantage points to attend to persons in need of first aid and other assistance from time to time. The tents will also serve as avenues for people who feel threatened to seek protection.
The officer-in-charge of the Red Cross in Bawku, Mr Alhassan Asana, who disclosed this to the Daily Graphic on Wednesday, said in consultation with the security agencies the Red Cross had mapped out appropriate locations where the tents would be mounted for that purpose.
He disclosed that already 19 displaced persons were being sheltered in the house of one of his officers and said once the tents were erected more people would be offered assistance.
The ICRC is an impartial, neutral and independent organisation whose exclusively humanitarian mission is to protect the lives and dignity of victims of war and internal violence and to provide them with assistance.
Mr Asana seized the opportunity to appeal to the people of Bawku to live in unity and exercise restraint as the government intensified its efforts to work for peace in the municipality and its environs.
Meanwhile basic schools in the Bawku Municipality are automatically on holiday due to the curfew imposed on the municipality.
The Ministry of the Interior on Monday, June 23, 2008 imposed a 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew on the Bawku Municipality and its environs following hostilities between Kusasis and Mamprusis.
However, following sporadic shooting on both sides of the feuding factions, the Upper East Regional Security Council (REGSEC), in consultation with the Bawku Municipal Security Committee, has reviewed the time to 12 noon to 6 a.m.
A teacher, who spoke on condition of anonymity, expressed concern at the latest development and warned that should the situation persist, the future of the children could be jeopardised.
In a related development, a visit to the Bawku Presbyterian Hospital on Wednesday revealed that the entire facility had been uninhabited as a result of the violence in the area.
Meanwhile, some residents have called on the government to declare a state of emergency in Bawku for two weeks and empower the security agencies to implement emergency plans to deal with the conflict in the municipality.
Others have also denounced the continuous imposition of curfew on the area, stressing that it was not helping the issues. “Rather than imposing the curfew, the government must consider taking drastic measures to bring the situation under control,” one resident told the Daily Graphic.