POLICE, MILITARY REINFORCEMENT FOR BAWKU (D/G, Wednesday, March 4, 2009PAGE 30)

A police and military reinforcement yesterday moved into the conflict zone of Bawku and found the town completely deserted, even though the curfew hours announced by the Interior Minister had not been altered.
By 12:15 p.m. when the Daily Graphic joined the team in Bawku, there was no commercial activity. Meanwhile, intermittent gunshots could be heard from the outskirts of the town.
A number of people could also be seen with small pieces of luggage at a temporary lorry park in front of the police station ready to leave the town.
The security team also discovered that most government workers had abandoned their posts and that there had been destruction of some property.
A house located a few metres behind the police station had been set ablaze.
Several houses, including those of the registrar of the Bawku Circuit Court, Mr Hamza Uztarz, and a businessman, Salifu Turay, had been burnt down.
Another lady, Ayifatu Bufanga, also had several items in her room burnt. Moved by her plight, the Regional Police Commander, DCOP Alhaji Hamidu Mahama, made a personal donation of GH¢30 to her.
At a suburb called Magema, the house belonging to the accountant of the Bawku Mutual Health Insurance Scheme, Mr Umar Uztarz, was razed to the ground.
Some items, including a satellite dish and a water pumping machine, were allegedly looted.
Tear gas was thrown at some policemen by unidentified civilians while the police tried to drive away some people who were shooting at the police.
A young man who also threw a petrol bomb at the military was shot in the right thigh and rushed to the Bolgatanga Regional Hospital for treatment.
The Regional Police Commander led a team of policemen to the Ghana-Togo border at Bulmakom to escort some stranded traders back to Bawku.
The police and the military have, meanwhile, intensified their patrols in the town.
At the time of filing this report, the Regional Police Commander was in a meeting with senior police officers at the Bawku Police Station to strategise on how to resolve the conflict.