Upper East REGSEC Imposes 21 Hour Curfew in Bawku

Bawku (U/E), June 1, GNA - The Upper East Regional Security Council (REGSEC) and Bawku Municipal Security Council (BMUSEC) on Monday jointly imposed a 21-hour curfew in the Bawku Municipality as a result of renewed violence, which started on Friday. The curfew, which is expected to start from Tuesday, would begin at 1000 hours to 0700 hours the next day until the situation in the area improves. This means that the people would be allowed out on the streets for only three hours daily.

Briefing the Media after a closed-door meeting of the REGSEC and Bawku MUSEC, the Regional Minister, Mr Mark Woyongo said apart from the reported cases of three deaths and some injured persons, four cars and the office of the Immigration Service were burnt down. He said so far 14 suspects have been arrested in connection with the violence and they would be screened and those found culpable would be dealt with. One AK47 raffle was retrieved from one of the arrested persons.

He indicated that a GT3 raffle was also found but nobody was arrested with it and stated that currently the situation was under control with increased joint Military-Police patrols. Mr Woyongo said there was high morale among the personnel of the Airborne Force but that of the Police Force was very low as a number of the Policemen posted for peacekeeping in the area had overstayed, especially those from Cape Coast, and were becoming frustrated and thus making them to perform poorly.

On the way forward, Mr Woyongo indicated that the REGSEC and MUSEC would still rely on the Inter-Ethnic Peace Committee to discharge its duties and said they had resolved to use youth leaders, who were highly influential and could preach to the youth to abstain from the conflict, since the opinion leaders entrusted with that responsibility had lost their authority.

Mr Woyongo appealed to the Management of media houses to be circumspect and to obtain their facts from authentic sources and not rely on anybody willing to talk so as not to inflame passions. The Minister together with members of the REGSEC and the MUSEC later on visited the areas where the people were killed. They also visited the Bawku Naba, Naba Asigri Abugrago II, where the Minister reiterated the need for peace to prevail whilst the Government found a lasting and amicable solution to the problem. He said Government would study the documents presented by the two ethnic groups and finalize its decision on that. The Bawku-Naba said the only means that could solve the conflict in Bawku was for Government to speed up and come out clearly with a ruling on the reports submitted by the two factions. 1 June 09