Alavanyo (Volta Region) - Nearly one year after the crisis in the north and its historical and cultural complexities which have persistently frustrated peace brokers till today, similarly unfortunate clouds are gathering along the Nkonya-Alavanyo frontiers of the Volta Region; making more volatile the 80-year old misunderstanding between the two neighbours.
Signals coming through to The Ghanaian Chronicle on the conflict zone indicate that 12 days after the recent bloody clashes in which lives were lost and many hospitalised, an Alavanyo royal cannot be traced; not even to the remotest parts of the surrounding jungles.
Kofi Amponi, said to be the chief linguist to Togbega Atakora Tsedze VIII, paramount chief of Alavanyo, got out of searchlight range at about 9.30pm on Saturday 1 February 2003, the very day three sporadic clashes took place in the area.
Since then, attempts to locate him have yielded no clues, sparking off the fear that he may have been killed, a fear gaining currency every hour. According to one chilling account gathered by the paper, a hatched-wielding gang kidnapped Amponi as he ventured to trek from Nkonya-Ahenkro to his home, after a trip to Accra. Darkness had fallen and there was no vehicle to convey him, so the linguist was left with no alternative than to risk walking.
Another blunt narrative has it that Amponi was hacked to pieces by assailants. But all in all his continuous disappearance all these while is giving credence to the claims of his people and further setting the two tribes apart.
The Ghanaian Chronicle gathered that relations between the two paramount chiefs, Nana Okoto Kofi III and Togbe Atakora Tsedze VIII, have not been quite cordial since the clashes. And when recently, the regional minister, Kwasi Owusu-Yeboa, made frantic moves to bring them together at Ho, the smiles needed for peace failed to show on their faces.
Incidentally, the two district chief executives feeling the heat of the kitchen are economical with a word on the matter. James Komla Dogbe of the Hohoe district said, “we are also hearing the rumours but please contact the police for the fats.” On his part, Sam Badu Kelele of Jasikan district, said he was not feeling well and suggested another time for comments on the issue.
Interestingly, when the paper contacted the police, the picture seemed blur to them. According to the Hohoe divisional police commander, Chief Superintendent Godwin Holly Hlorlewu, his outfit receives several reports each day but surprisingly when he sends men over, nothing pertaining to the reports are found.
The police chief, whose unit feeds the regional command with situation reports, said he tried to get one of the chiefs for the facts, but his phone had always remained unanswered.
Meanwhile, observers along the fronts hinted that since 1923, the conflict resurfaced every ten years with bloody consequences. The source, which others see as superstitious, said the last major clash was in 1993 and thought students of history should have know that this is the tenth year since then and should have drawn government’s attention to it. It regretted that the mistrust had discouraged inter-marriages between the two neighbours.
Another school of though felt it was impossible to foresee any looming clash because the last peace pipe was smoked amidst church services and followed by annual events signifying unity between them.
However, there are also strong suspicions of the involvement of drug-dealers and illegal chain-saw operators in the recent attacks. This theory strongly argued that Indian hemp cultivators and people in the illicit timber business have declared the jungle areas their citadel, which should not be trespassed.
For fear of interference or discovery of their illicit trades, they fire at intruders, using the perennial land dispute as a cover up. It will be recalled that, not long ago, large plantations of “wee” were destroyed by the security agencies in the area. The proponents of this theory believe the cultivators have now moved their plantations up into the mountain ranges, which coincidentally are part of the disputed land.
While it is not yet known is whether the weapons used in the recent clashes were locally manufactured or imported, one fact, which cannot be denied, is that Kofi Amponi’s strange disappearance is giving the whole scenario a twist because of his alleged royal status.
