Intervene in Agogo crisis - Fulani Community to Akufo-Addo

Members of the Fulani Association of Ghana have expressed their discontent with how the violent clashes between local farmers and nomadic herdsmen in the Asante Akyem North and Sekyere Afram Plains districts of the Ashanti Region are being handled by the government.

They said they are being maltreated by the police-military task-force and the larger populace following clashes between the Fulanis and farmers in some communities, particularly in Agogo and its environs in the past weeks.

Addressing the press in Accra on Friday, head of the Fulani Community in Ghana, Professor Sheikh Osman Barry appealed to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to intervene in what he described as unwarranted atrocities being meted out to the nomadic Fulani herdsmen in some parts of the country.

The Association heavily lamented how the innocent herdsmen are the ones often attacked whenever the cattle are reportedly destroying farms, whiles the real owners including politicians and other influential persons in society, are left off the hook.

Sheikh Barry, while condemning the unrest, demanded the shoot-to-kill strategy be stopped and the affected families compensated.

“We equally wish to appeal to His Excellency to ensure that adequate compensations are paid to the innocent victimised Fulani families who have lost their cattle during the said joint operation and other atrocities,” he stressed.

Prof Sheikh Osman Barry also called on the General Secretary of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, to intervene in the plight of the Fulani Community in Ghana, indicating that the hostile way they are being treated is unacceptable.

He urged collaboration in decision-making on issues that concern the Fulani and suggested dialogue towards resolving the issues of nomadic herdsmen in Agogo.

His call follows the recent attack on some four members of the task-force; three military officers and a police officer, who sustained gunshot wounds.

According to Police in the area, the assailants believed to be nomadic herdsmen, lay in wait and shot at the security personnel who were in the bush as part of measures to evict the herdsmen and their cattle from Agogo.

Government subsequently dispatched about 200 personnel drawn from the military and police service to Agogo and Sekyere Afram Plains districts to flush out the nomadic herdsmen who are reportedly terrorizing residents of those areas.

The Deputy Minister of Information, Curtis Perry Kwabia Okudzeto said the joint security team has been tasked to “push back the herdsmen from new areas they have occupied, arrest perpetrators of recent acts of violence for prosecution, and augment the efforts of Operation Cow Leg, an ongoing security operation aimed at dealing with the activities of herdsmen in the area.”