Resort to dialogue...Veep appeals to feuding factions in Bawku conflict (D/G, Saturday, March 7, 2009 Page 19)

The Vice President, Mr John Mahama, has appealed to the feuding factions in the Bawku conflict to resort to dialogue rather than confrontation in resolving their problems.“There is no way any of the feuding factions can win this conflict by the use of force and fire arms. The answer to your differences does not lie in the shooting and killing of each other. The answer is to talk to each other and see each other as a brother or a sister,” he said.The Vice President renewed the appeal when he held separate meetings with the Paramount Chief of Bawku, Naba Asigri Abugrago Azoka II, and the elders of the Mamprusi community in Bawku.The visit of the Vice President, who was accompanied by the Minister of the Interior, Mr Clestus Avoka, the Upper East Regional Minister, Mr Mark Woyongo, the Presidential Spokesperson and a former MP for Bawku Central, Mr Mahama Ayariga, the Commanding Officer of the Northern Command of the Ghana Armed Forces, Brigadier General Joseph Adinkrah, and the Head of Operations of the Ghana Police Service, Deputy Commissioner of Police Patrick Timbillah, was to assess the conflict situation in the municipality.Violence erupted in the Bawku municipality on Monday, March 2, 2009 after a young man, Mohammed Musthafa, a Busanga, was gunned down by unknown persons.The violence intensified on Tuesday, when some youth, after the stabbing of another person in the centre of town, took to the streets burning houses and looting property amidst the firing of guns from all corners of the municipality.The number of deaths recorded since the conflict was resurrected stands at nine. So far 41 persons have been arrested by the joint police and military patrol teams, out of which 11 have been remanded in prison custody by the Bolgatanga Circuit Court.Six weapons, made up of four AK47 rifles, one G3, one single-barrelled weapon and 202 rounds of AK47 ammunitions were also retrieved from the combatants.A number of persons, including a police constable on peacekeeping duty, sustained gunshot wounds and are on admission at the Bolgatanga Regional Hospital.The police constable had, however, been flown to Koforidua in the Eastern Region for further treatment.Vice President Mahama, who is in Bawku at the instance of the President, expressed the government’s displeasure at the death of innocent citizens and appealed to the people to let peace prevail.He reminded the people of the poverty levels of the three northern regions, which, he said, was very high and stressed that those resources which should have been used by the municipal assembly for development and to create employment was now being channelled into maintaining the peace in the area.He warned that the government was going to be firm and cautioned persons who hid behind political parties to fuel the crisis to desist from that.Naba Asigri Abugrago Azoka II blamed the constant escalation of violence and serial conflict in the area to activities of some security personnel and the failure of politicians of the past government to deal with the perpetrators of crime.He urged the current government to come out clearly on the Bawku chieftaincy issue, and if possible publish a White Paper based on previous court rulings as to who owns Bawku.An opinion leader of the Mamprusi community, Mr David Molli, for his part, commended the President for the prompt manner in which he dispatched the Vice President to the area to assess the situation, and expressed the hope that the government would, for once, settle the issues of Bawku amicably.Earlier at a meeting with head of security agencies on the ground, Mr Mahama commended the police and military for a good job done so far and urged them to continue with tactical strategies and regular snap checks and searches to make Bawku an arms-free zone.The Minister of the Interior, Mr Cletus Avoka, appealed to the security agencies to maintain neutrality and be unbiased in the discharge of their duties, adding that the continued conflict in Bawku and elsewhere was as a result of the fact that people were not satisfied with the neutrality of some of the security personnel.He, however, gave the assurance that the government was committed to ensuring law and order.Lieutenant-Colonel Isaac Awuah-Mantey, Commanding Officer in charge of the Tamale Airborne Force, who briefed the Vice President and his entourage on the operations of the security personnel, also bemoaned the unjustifiable bailing of suspects by the courts.He stressed that throughout the Bawku crisis, which started on December 31, 2007, certain persons who committed heinous crimes, ranging from arson to murder and were apprehended, have all been allegedly released by the courts and are roaming the streets of Bawku with impunity.He said in situations where murder suspects were arrested and released after a brief incarceration, the wrong signals were sent to the criminals and this also had a demoralising effect on the security personnel.He, therefore, advocated that people arrested in connection with the conflict should be handed severe sentences to serve as a deterrent to others.The Upper East Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Alhaji Hamidu Mahama, appealed for more logistics such as vehicles and enhanced living conditions for the more than 500 military and police personnel working to restore peace in Bawku, a request the Vice President obliged to take up with the police and military administration.