President declares commitment, Vice Pleads For Calm

President John Agyekum Kufuor on Wednesday, said he was committed to a thorough investigation into the circumstances leading to the crisis in the Dagbon State of the Northern region, last month.

"I am also committed to a peaceful and sustainable settlement of the crisis," Mr Kwabena Agyepong, Deputy Government Spokesman, quoted him when he briefed newsmen at the Castle, Osu, after the President had held separate closed door meetings with delegations from the Andani and Abudu Gates, the two factions in the crisis.

President Kufuor said the State of Emergency was declared in the area to prevent further loss of lives and property and thanked the factions for their co-operation with the five-member Presidential fact-finding team and the Six-member Council of State team, which visited the area.

He also thanked the chiefs and people especially those from Yendi for their co-operation with the police and military personnel keeping the peace for the relative calm in the town.

Mr Agyepong said both factions in the crisis expressed their appreciation to the government for the swift manner it brought the situation under control and expressed their preparedness to have frank and objective discussions with the Mediation Team and others involved in discussing the issue.

He said the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, a member of the Mediation Team was expected in Accra in the morning of Thursday, for a closed door meeting with President Kufuor and the Nayiri Gamni Muhammadu and the Yagbon-Wura, Bawa Doshie II.

Mr Agyepong said the team would later hold separate meetings with the factions with the Presidential fact-finding team participating. The Kumbun-Na Yiri II led the Andani Gate while the Nanton-Na Sule led the Abudu gate.

Alui pleads for time for govt to resolve Ya-Na's assassination

The Vice President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama has called on Ghanaians to bear with the government as it embarks on a mission to find an amicable solution to the Yendi crisis. He said "what we have on our hands is an ancient and a highly inflammable situation which requires the co-operation and support of all to resolve.

"In the process some may have to temporally give up their rights and privileges for the survival and good of the country, " the Vice President told a delegation of Muslim chiefs led by the Chief Imam Sheik Nuhu Sharubutu, who paid a courtesy call on him to express their condolences and sympathies to the government on the Yendi tragedy.

He said "as a son of the area I am deeply saddened and embarrassed by the tragedy and I believe that every true son of Dagbon is equally saddened and embarrassed by the turn of events in Yendi.

"I wish to call on the rest of Ghanaians not to make it any worse for us by allowing this calamity to divide the country any further. Let us minimise the spoils of this conflict; the Dagomba state has already lost heavily, but Ghana must stay united and strong to comfort us all," Alhaji Mahama said.

He said "in this moment of our distress we need the sympathies and prayers of all Ghanaians to enable Dagbon to come out of this calamity." The Vice President also appealed to all Dagombas, irrespective of their family lineage to exercise extreme restraint and co-operate with the various investigation teams in their search for a lasting solution to the problem.

He expressed his deepest condolences and sympathies to the bereaved families and prayed that Allah would support and comfort them in this moment of grief. The Vice President reiterated the government's determination to get to the bottom of the tragedy in Yendi and to bring to quick justice the perpetrators of this heinous crime.