Peace committee says Bawku is safe

Bolgatanga, Aug 16, GNA - The Bawku Inter-Ethnic Peace Committee has assured the government and development partners that the prevailing security environment in Bawku is safe for implementation of projects.

Members of the Inter-ethnic Peace Committee said this in a communiqu=E9 issued at the end of a three-day capacity building workshop in Bolgatanga at the week end.

It was organised by the Ghana government through the Ministry of Interior with support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and facilitated by the West Africa Network for Peace Building (WANEP).

The workshop was aimed at enhancing the capacity of the Inter-Ethnic Peace Committee to bring about sustainable peace in Bawku.

It was also used to deliberate on the achievements, challenges and constraints and to see how they could improve upon their work in bringing sustainable peace in the area.

The communiqu=E9 said with the current prevailing peaceful environment, it was safe for development projects to be implemented and that the Committee, through its hard work and commitment and with support from others, including the security agencies, had been able to restore some appreciable level of peace in the area that could guarantee the safety of development projects.

The Members of the Committee called on development agencies including non-governmental organizations that either abandoned or intended operating in the area not to panic but to return to work in the area.

The Committee appealed to the stakeholders including government to provide it with Office accommodation and logistics support.

It said the Committee did not have any designated office in the Municipality which was affecting some of its duties and also appealed to government to create a special budget to support the committee to carry out its planned activities and programmes to avoid relapses.

The members also called on the government and other stakeholders to absorb the transport and travelling and other allowances to enable the committee attend meetings and carry out outreach activities properly.

They appealed to the Upper East Members of Parliament to fulfil their pledges to support the committee in discharging its duties and also appealed to all stakeholders who had the interest of contributing to sustainable of peace in Bawku to channel their resources thorough the inter-Ethnic Peace Committee so that all efforts could be coordinated to achieve lasting peace.

The Executive Director of WANEP, Mr Emmanuel Bombande who facilitated the workshop, commended the Committee for working to bring about appreciable level of peace in the area and urged them to work harder to sustain lasting peace in the area.