LATEST BAWKU KILLINGS CONDEMNED (PAGE 14)

A co-chairman of the Bawku Inter Ethnic Peace Committee, Mr Thomas Abila, has condemned the latest violence in the Bawku Municipality, describing it as a serious drawback to efforts being made by the committee to bring lasting peace to the area.
Speaking to journalists in Bawku last Sunday, Mr Abila, who is also a personal assistant to Naba Asigri Abugrago Azoka II, the paramount chief of the Bawku Traditional Area, said the latest killings and injuries to innocent citizens was a big blow to the committee which is at the verge of making a headway in its efforts to broker permanent peace in Bawku.
“The committee has come to a point when people are beginning to understand each other and embracing the work of the members only to be struck by this unfortunate incident. In fact what has happened today has taken us back and it will take time for us to bring the peace we are all yearning for”, Mr Abila said.
The committee, comprising both Kusasis and Mamprusis was set up by the Upper East Regional Co-ordinating Council to broker permanent peace in the Bawku Municipality and its environs.
The terms of reference to guide the committee include the opening up of genuine, constructive and effective dialogue among the people of Bawku, especially the major protagonists in the conflict.
It is also to help educate the general populace on the need for peaceful co-existence, placing emphasis on commonalities that unite the people, instead of the insignificant differences dividing them.
Last Sunday, five lives were lost and four others were seriously injured in Bawku, following clashes in the municipality. The clashes were as a result of the shooting to death of a taxi driver, Rufai Sumani at Zongo Natinga.
The driver and two other occupants were travelling to Cinkanse, a market centre in neighbouring Togo, when some unknown persons ambushed them and shot at them killing the taxi driver. The death of the taxi driver led to a spontaneous rioting in the Bawku town which led to further shooting in the centre of the town and the subsequent death of the four others.
Mr Abila noted that the continuous conflict in Bawku was taking a toll on the government, which has to spend more money to provide security personnel for the area and appealed to the people to lay down their arms.
A youth leader, Mr Majeed Alhassan Mbawin said some criminal elements in Bawku were taking advantage of the situation to foment trouble and urged the security agencies to strengthen their efforts in arresting those perpetrating the violence in Bawku.
He also questioned the legality of a group calling itself Bawku Youth Development Association, which he accused of peddling some falsehood about the situation in Bawku and called on the security agencies to investigate the background of the leaders of that group and arrest them since they have not been registered and also they have no office location in the area.
Mr Mbawin called on the media to be circumspect about their reportage on issues in Bawku, stressing that any negative reports could trigger conflict in the area. He cited a recent report carried by a private newspaper, The Ghanaian Observer about the existence of a guerilla training camp at Nafkoliga, and described such publications not only as false but something that has the potential of provoking more violence in Bawku
Earlier, the Bawku Naba, Asigri Abugrago Azoka II, condemned the shooting incident in Bawku and declared his support for and full co-operation with the security agencies in unravelling those behind the act.
“What has happened today is not and should not be linked in any way to the supposed chieftaincy issues between Kusasis and Mamprusis and if the perpetrators are identified and discovered to Kusasis, I hereby declare my support and full co-operation to the security agencies to deal with them drastically,” Naba Azoka II said.
While sympathising with the families of the deceased and those who sustained gunshot wounds, Naba Azoka extended a hand of friendship to “my Mamprusi brothers led by Elder Akalifa so that we can work together as brothers to restore peace in Bawku immediately.”