360 Burkinabe refugees repatraited(Daily Graphic, Saturday, January 12, 2012. Back Page)

Story: Benjamin Xornam Glover, Bolgatanga 360 out of the 600 persons who fled from conflict in their communities in Burkina Faso to Sapelliga in Bawku West district in the Upper East Region on the eve of the New Year, have been repatriated taken back to Yuuga in Burkina-Faso, where a temporal camp have been established. Authorities of Central East Province in Burkina-Faso with support from their Ghanaian counterparts started the repatriation of the Burkinabes from Sapelliga with state sponsored buses from Burkina-Faso on Sunday, January 6, 2013. The Bawku West District Police Commander, Assistant Superintendent of Police, (A.S.P.) Mr Christian Dogbatse in an interview on the progress of the repatriation exercise which was started on Sunday said it has been a smooth exercise so far. He said most of the 240 refugees left have opted to leave voluntarily since the distance between Sapelliga and Yuuga is about 18 kilometers. Some of them are said to have come into the country with their cattle and were said not to be comfortable sending the herd to the Yuuga refugee camp but were making alternate arrangement to go back. He said so far the process has been peaceful so far with no major incidence recorded. He expressed the hope that the remaining leg of the repatriation exercise will be as smooth as the initial phase. It will be recalled that a conflict between Busangas and Fulanis in the Barigunse, Yarikor and Zaabire communities in neighboring Burkina Faso from December 31, 2012 to January 2, 2013, led to the influx of some 600 refugees into Sapelliga in the Bawku West District. Authorities of both countries quickly mobilized to find lasting solutions to the problems and ensured that the displaced persons were quickly assisted and repatriated back to their communities. -End- writer's email:benjamin.glover@graphic.com.gh