Ahwiaa conflict; Kwabre East district assembly places ban on ‘soloku’

Kwabre East District Security Council (DISEC), on Tuesday, February 6, 2018, placed ban on jamming 'soluku’, with immediate effect, in the district, as part of measures in dealing with clashes among the religious sects youth in the district.

The ban was agreed during a stakeholders’ meeting at the district capital, Mamponteng, which involved the DCE, Hon. Nana Osei Asibbey, Tafo Divisional Commander ACP Agrippa Oppong, the chief of Ahwia Nana Yeboah Asuamah, chief Imams, Christian leaders and other opinion leaders in the district.

The ban was a result of a violence that broken out at Ahwiaa, a community in the district between some youth in the Zongo community and Asantes on Saturday, February 2, 2018, morning.

The fights started when some youth from the Zongo community joined another group in the Asante community who were mourning a dead sister.

Several people were reported injured in the violent clash between Muslim youth and some youths in the town over a misunderstanding between the two youth group.

Seven suspects have been arrested so far with firearms, ammunition and dangerous weapons retrieved. According to the police, all the suspects whose identities are yet to be known have been sent to Regional Headquarters for further investigation.

Speaking in an interview with Otec News’ Nana Asare Barimah, the DCE, Hon. Osei Asibbey debunked a notion that the clash was between the Muslim community and the non-muslim community, but, “youth in the community who felt peeved by actions of their colleagues didn’t go down well with them, hence the need to retaliate, that resulted in the bloody clash”.

“Moslems and other religious sects have lived in peace since time immemorial in this district. The clash was among the youth who wanted to register their displeasure to each other who felt mistreated, nothing more, nothing less,” he explained.

“During the meeting, it came to the fore that there are so many ‘gang groups’ and ‘weed smoking’ joints in the district, DISEC have now decided to dissolve all these groups, which are responsible for robbery and other social devices and make sure anybody found to be associated with those groups or activities are arrested and punished,” he warned.

Hon. Asibbey also hinted that Sunday, February 18, 2018, has been selected to organize a community game at Ahwiaa, where the youth, opinion leaders and stakeholders will meet for a peace talk.