Calm returns to Bawku before curfew

Bawku, (UE), Jan. 2, GNA-Firing of arms in the Bawku Municipality stopped at about 1630 hours on Wednesday and the entire place remained calm, allowing people who had been enclosed in their houses to venture onto the streets.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Bawku, Supt. Peter King Gyinae, Municipal Commander of Police said the shooting that started earlier in the day was curtailed by intensive patrols by the police and army and that had helped calm down the situation.

"We are not leaving any stone unturned and we would intensify our patrols tomorrow to ensure that no fighting takes place", he said. Supt. Gyinae said more Police and Military personnel had been deployed in the area and they were enough to maintain peace, adding, "the people are now feeling our impact and that would make them keep their guns away".

He said so far 22 people had been arrested and put in police custody in Bawku.

Mr. Alhassan Samari, Upper East Regional Minster, reiterated his call for calm and appealed to the fighting factions to put down their arms and let peace prevail.

" This fighting and killing each other will not help us , we need peace to be able to work for development of our Region as we are among the poorest and have a lot to do to catch up with the other Regions", he said.

He noted that, it was rather an unfortunate incident that nobody expected, as many people were happy to end the year 2007 in good health and looked forward to having a better life in 2008.

Earlier in the day, Mr.Samari visited the 15 people who sustained gunshot injuries and were admitted to the Bolgatanga Central hospital. Two were in critical conditions and needed intensive care, while the others were in stable conditions.