TWO BEATEN TO DEATH (BACK PAGE, NOV 28)

TWO persons resident at Mognori, a border town near Bawku in the Upper East Region, were beaten to death at the Burkina Faso side of Mognori on Thursday evening following a misunderstanding that ensued between them and some residents on the Burkina side.
The White Volta River separates the two communities and people from either side constantly cross it for trading activities.
A security source in Bawku told this reporter that since the river had partially dried up, some young men on the Ghana side had constructed a temporary road, using tree branches, to facilitate the movement of vehicles into both sides of the Mognori community.
The temporary “road” across the White Volta links the two sides in the dry season and drivers who use the road are expected to pay a toll of GH¢1 to the youth who constructed it.
According to the source, on one occasion a Burkinabe driver crossed over to the Ghana side and back to the Burkina side over five times without paying the prescribed toll.
A misunderstanding ensued and in the process the Burkinabe driver allegedly slapped one of the youth from the Ghana side of Mognori. The young man allegedly ran to the Ghana side and later to Bawku to organise some colleagues to attack the driver.
The group, led by one Moro, armed themselves with a weapon and headed towards the Burkina side of the community where they fired indiscriminately and attacked the residents there.
Some members of the group, the source said, upon seeing the situation, fled the area, leaving the two who were beaten to death.
Security personnel from Ghana were detailed to the area to negotiate with their counterparts on the other side of the river and brought the deceased back to Ghana on Friday.
The names of the deceased were given only as Angola and Murtalla, both Bissas. Their remains have since been deposited at the Bolgatanga Regional Hospital mortuary for autopsy.