Commission to investigate Ghana's ethnic violence

The government plans to set up a Commission to investigate the ethnic fighting between the Mamprusis and Kusasis that claimed 60 lives in Bawku last week, Defence Minister, Kwame Addo Kufuor MP said.

Kufuor, who led a government delegation to the town, some 830-km north of Accra, said, until an appropriate political solution was found, the military would remain in the troubled area.

He said some people had always assumed that a democratic government was not strong enough to restore law and order and warned, "Anybody who makes (such an) assumption would be making a dangerous mistake".

"If anybody takes the law into his own hands to undermine the security of the country, we will go at all length to get the person to ensure that peace-loving people live in peace.

"The Government of Ghana is strong enough to defend all the people of Ghana," the Minister warned.

He appealed to traditional rulers and other opinion leaders at Bawku to ensure that peace returned to the town. The Minister also urged those still in possession of arms to surrender them.

Other members of the delegation included Interior Minister Malik Alhassan, Yakubu MP, Minister for Justice and Attorney-General, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo MP, Minister for Tourism, Hawa Yakubu and the Deputy Minister for Works and Housing, Theresa Tagoe.

Scores of houses and vehicles were burnt when fighting broke out during an argument between two men from the two ethnic groups. More than 2,500 people were also displaced by the violence.