Bolgatanga (Upper East) 04 December 2001 - Calm has returned to the Bawku Township after the Kussasi and Mamprusi ethnic conflict in which 18 people were officially reported killed and many others injured at the weekend.
This follows the deployment of police and military reinforcements who intervened to stop the feuding factions from causing further mayhem. The security agencies have penetrated the respective strong-holds of the two factions during which a number of arrests were made. The Kusasi’s and Mamprusi’s have been engaged in running battles using guns and other deadly weapons after an initial argument over lotto transaction bet.
The Upper East Regional Security Council (REGSEC) on Tuesday morning held an emergency meeting in preparation for the arrival of the Chief of Defence Staff, Lieutenant General Seth Obeng, who was due in Bolgatanga at 1200 hours from where he would fly to Bawku.
Even though, the REGSEC was yet to brief the press, information filtered through indicated that not a single weapon had been fired during the last 24 hours. It said the Police and the Military were in firm control.
Reports from Bawku indicated that health workers at the local Presbyterian Hospital had deserted and the injured would have to be attended to by the military medical team.
Mr Ernest Owusu-Poku, Inspector General of Police, told the Ghana News Agency that some schools in the township have closed down following the clashes. "There is no lawlessness now since most of the inhabitants are staying indoors and everything is under control."
He said the firing and burning of houses has also ceased with police and the military patrolling the township. Meanwhile, GNA reports other sources as saying that most of the youth had deserted the town leaving mainly the elderly, women and children. The source said that the official casualty figures were still 18.
The source said the fact that some of the casualties may be Muslims whose relatives might quickly bury them may delay the tallying of the death toll. Bawku had been likened to Jerusalem where two different groups of people lay claim to the town - Palestinians and the Israelis.
The Mamprusi until the early 1980 were the rulers of Bawku but following persistent clashes it was resolved that the Kusasis, who were the owners of the land should be recognised and the Kusasi Chief Abugrago Azoka II became the Bawku Naba (Chief of Bawku).
Notwithstanding, the arrangement Bawku remained a flash spot with the two ethnic groups clashing over the least of provocations. Just before the 1996 elections a young man allegedly beat up his girl friend, who happened to belong to the other ethnic group.
This episode, which should have normally passed as lovers' quarrel, degenerated into a serious clash during which some kiosks and houses were burnt. When the 1996 election results were declared there was another clash between the two groups. Again after the 2000 elections there was a clash in which several people were killed and property destroyed.
Curfew Imposed In Bawku
Ghanaian authorities have imposed a curfew in the northern town of Bawku in an effort to halt a weekend of violence in which at least four people died. Reports from the capital Accra say police and soliders have been sent to the region - near the border with Burkina Faso - to enforce the curfew.Members of the two main tribes in the area, the Kusasis and the Mamprusis, are said to have attacked each other with bows and arrows and homemade guns.
Police have confirmed that four died in two days of fighting, but some eyewitnesses say the death toll may be as high as 40.
Buildings and cars were set on fire during the clashes, which began on Sunday and continued into the day on Monday.
The dusk-to-dawn curfew imposed on Monday evening seems to have quelled the worst of the violence, though there were reports of sporadic gunfire into the night.
Fleeing clashes
The clashes reportedly started after members of one ethnic group burned a cargo truck belonging to a member of the rival group.
The Associated Press reported that some Bawku residents fled to the regional capital of Bolgatanga, 85 kilometres (50 miles) away, to escape the fighting.
There is a history of armed violence between the two tribes.
At least 30 people were killed in clashes between them last year.
The Mamprusi tend to favour President John Kufuor and his New Patriotic Party.
The Kusasi generally support the National Democratic Congress, the party of former President Jerry Rawlings.
