Bukere, Soe smoke peace pipe

Bolgatanga, June 18, GNA - The People of Bukere and Soe in the Bolgatanga Municipality at the weekend sacrificed a bull and a ram to their ancestors, asking for peace and prosperity as a gesture of smoking the peace pipe following communal violence between the two sides in January last year.

On January 15, 2006 the youth of the two sections clashed during a game of playing cards, which led to the death of a teenage girl with many other people sustaining injuries. Property running into several millions of cedis was also destroyed.

Pouring the libation, the chiefs of the two areas, Naba Adoku Francis and Naba Asakibaro Akayiba, exhorted the youth to desist from acts that would induce conflicts.

The Assemblyman for Soe, Mr Abire Alolga, cautioned that government would not countenance any acts that would mar peace in the area again and would deal drastically with trouble causers.

He expressed regret over the huge sums of money that were spent in maintaining law and order in the area during the conflict and said these monies could have been used on development projects.

The Assemblyman indicated that no development could take place in an atmosphere of rancour and conflicts and urged the youth to rather re-direct their energies develop themselves and the communities. "You as must re-direct your youthful exuberance to the development of yourselves and your communities instead of fighting each other and creating confusing and destructions", Mr Alolga said. id.