Fallout From Bawku Conflict

...Death Toll Rise To 33
... Residents Call For Review of Curfew Hours

Information gathered by northernghana.com from the ethnic conflict afflicted Bawku Municipality and its environs revealed that the death toll in the crisis now stand at 33 with 159 houses burnt. According to Alhassan Asaana, an official of the Red Cross in the district, the number of the dead could rise since the 33 were only the recorded figure.

Northernghana.com enquiries in the area showed uneasy calm with residents going about their normal daily routines. There are about 400 police-military persons and officers in the municipality ensuring law and order while the people observe the curfew hours imposed on the area since January 2, 2008.

Statistics showed that the two dominating ethnic groups in the Bawku Municipality involved in the communal clash are the Kusasis who form 45% of the population and Mamprusis who constitutes 25% of the general population. Most victims of the conflict are women, children and other residents in the area.

Natives and other dwellers of the town and its environs are subsistent farmers most of whom farm along the White Volta. A Cursory look on their faces showed hunger, depression and yearn for succor as access to their only source of livelihood, which is farming, is almost impossible. Most of them still live in fear of being attacked by opponents on their way to and from their respective farms which is between five and 15 miles away from the central town. Lamenting their predicament to northernghana.com, the subsistent farmers called for intensification of security in the outskirts of the town to allow them go about their farming activities without panic.

They commended government for the timely intervention but called for review of the curfew hours from the current 6:00hrs-18:00, to what they termed “a more comfortable time”, saying the current time is affecting their farming immensely and making life quite harsh.

"Due to the curfew, many of us cannot go to farm and those who muster courage to go are caught up by the curfew hours", a farmer told northernghana.com.

Meanwhile traditional rulers and security agencies are collaborating to strengthen the fragile peace in the area while the people struggle to put bits and pieces together and appealed to philanthropists as well as government to come to their aid with relief items including food.