Task Force pursues Fulani herdsmen

Nkoranza (B/A) April 16, GNA - A task force made up of members of Nkoranza South District Security Committee (DISEC) and a team of armed policemen have mounted a search for some Fulani herdsmen who illegally settled on some farm lands in the area.

The action followed persistent complaints by residents that the herdsmen had settled at Dandwa, Asuoso, Dimango, Pruso and Ayerede and their animals were destroying their crops. On sighting the combined team, the herdsmen took to their heels with their cattle, leaving behind some of their belongings. The police retrieved a pump action gun and some bullets, as well as mats, blankets, plastic containers and cooking utensils from their places of abode.

Mr. Emmanuel Kwadwo Agyekum, Nkoranza South District Chief Executive (DCE) told the Ghana News Agency that the DISEC would continue to embark of such exercise to ensure the Fulani cattle herdsmen and their animals were flushed out of the area. He said farmers in the area continued to report the loss of large tracts of maize, cassava, yam and plantain farm lands to the cattle. In another development, the people of Tom and Timiabu in Nkoranza North district have also complained of similar problems caused by the Fulani herdsmen and their cattle.

The DCE Mr. Kwadwo Agyei-Dwomor told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) he would soon arrange a meeting of the DISEC and take a similar military-cum-police exercise to promote peace in the district. In 1998, such activities by Fulani herdsmen who had settled at Dromankese in Nkoranza North district resulted in a bloody conflict between the residents and the herdsmen in which three lives were lost. The Fulani herdsmen were eventually driven out the community by a military task force.

Meanwhile, in separate interviews by the GNA in the two districts, residents expressed indignation about the resurgence of Fulani herdsmen and their cattle in the two areas and appealed to the Government to effectively address the issue once and for all. "These aliens (referring to Fulani herdsmen) are trying to take over our lands, to the extent of rather turning some Ghanaian citizens into aliens on their own land", an aggrieved resident said. 16 April 11