Fighting Erupts In Bawku - Three More Lives lost

Three more lives have been lost in Bawku following renewed fighting yesterday between the Kusasis and the Mamprusis. Security sources said the fight, which was triggered by the firing of guns by irate youth of the two feuding ethnic groups in the neighbourhood of Sabongedi, also resulted in a number of injuries. The dead and the injured, who were taken to the Bawku Presbyterian Hospital and mortuary, are yet to be identified. Two people suspected to have started the fight have been arrested by the police, with an assurance that calm has been restored to the area. Subsequently, a combine team of police and military officials and other security officers have intensified their surveillance around the Bawku township. Narrating the incident to the Daily Graphic, a source in Bawku said the two men, believed to be Mamprusis, who were riding motorbikes and wielding guns opened fire on some Kusasi youth who were carrying out their evening Muslim prayers in a mosque at Sabongedi, a suburb of Bawku. He said the Kusasi youth, upon hearing the shots, abandoned the mosque and took to their heels. He said as a result of the sporadic shooting in the area, market women deserted their stalls, while civil and public servants who feared for their lives also closed their offices, thereby bringing administrative, commercial and industrial activities in the Bawku township to a halt. The source told the Daily Graphic that but for the swift intervention of the military personnel stationed in the area to restore peace, the exchanges between the youth of the two feuding tribes could have spread. He disclosed that parents and guardians who sensed danger went for their children and wards from their schools, while most of the schools in the area closed down, thereby halting academic activities. When the Daily Graphic contacted the Upper East Regional Minister and Chairman of the Regional Security Committee (REGSEC), Mr Alhassan Samari, he confirmed the incident and said his office was collaborating with security experts to beef up security in the area to avert the escalation of the fight. He said the REGSEC would collaborate with the Ministry of the Interior to review the 8:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. curfew imposed in the area and gave the assurance that the security agencies were working tirelessly to restore calm in Bawku. The Bawku conflict, which started on January 1, this year, has already claimed the lives of 10 people, while 16 people have sustained severe gunshot wounds. The mayhem also culminated in the complete burning down of 75 houses at Missiga, Natmga, Sabongedi, Possun and Patelmi, all suburbs of Bawku, and Garu in the Garu-Tempane District. Twenty-three houses have been partially burnt, whereas 29 stores and five vehicles were completely burnt. Twenty-two people believed to be part of those who caused the mayhem have been arraigned before the Navrongo District Court in the Kassena Nankana District. Their charges range from conspiracy, impediment of public way, causing unlawful damage, rioting with weapons and possessing ammunition without authority.