Thousands flee to Jasikan following clashes in Hohoe

At least 6,041 persons from Hohoe Zongo have been displaced as a result of the communal clashes between the indigenes of Hohoe and the Muslim community.

The displaced persons, mostly women and children, are living with friends and relatives at Jasikan, Kadjebi, Biakoye and Kpando.

According to Mr. Simon Miles Bakar, Volta Regional Coordinator of National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), some relief items like beddings and food items have been supplied to them.

He however appealed to non-governmental organisations, philanthropists and members of the public to assist the displaced persons as their numbers keep rising.

Meanwhile, Togbe Afede XIV, the Agbogbomefia of Asogli State and President of the National House of Chiefs, and the Mr. Henry Ford Kamel, Volta Regional Minister, have visited the displaced persons at Jasikan.

Togbe Afede appealed to them to return home to begin the process of reconciliation and rebuilding.

The Most Reverend Gabriel A. A. Mante, the Catholic Bishop of Jasikan Diocese, complained about non-implementation of recommendations of investigative committees and said this had left problems unresolved.

He said this attitude could spell disaster if aggrieved parties felt that justice had not been done.

The clashes on Monday started when some youth of the Zongo Community found the exhumed body of the local Imam at the roadside at the outskirt of the town after his burial on Sunday.

He was reportedly buried in defiance of a ban on the burial of members of the Zongo Community on Gbi Land.

The traditional authorities of Gbi imposed the ban after some Zongo youth vandalised the Hohoe Government Hospital and attacked some of its staff accusing them of negligence which had led to the death of a colleague.**