Death toll in Bawku clash rises to 26

The death toll in the bloody ethnic clash between Mamprusi and Kusasi at Bawku has risen to 26.

Although calm seemed to have come to the area, with the beefing up of military and police re-enforcement, life was dull and brisk commercial activities had reduced drastically because of mounting fear, suspicion and tension mounting among the people.

The Upper East Regional Minister, Mr Mahami Salifu, the Officer Commanding the Northern sector forces, Brigadier George Aryiku, the Regional Police Commander, Mr Paul Quaye and officials of the Bawku District Assembly toured the area to assess the extend of destruction caused by the conflict.

Property destroyed included the Kumasi Number Two Station popularly called Justice Station. It contained foodstuffs and petroleum products that was still burning during the visit. Shops, two Datsun Pick-up vehicles, a Mitsubishi taxi, a 207 Benz bus with registration number GR 540 N and a cargo truck carrying oranges were also burnt.

Three other Kumasi stations, Numbers One, Three and Four, the Ghana Co-operative Transport Association office, the Miami old station and several houses were burnt.

Addressing the soldiers, Brig. Aryiku warned them against aligning themselves with any of the factions. He said they should remain neutral and conduct themselves professionally during the operations.

Brig. Aryiku urged them to use their reputation won during international peacekeeping operations to disarm all persons with illegal arms.

He said they should respect the rights of the people because their mission was not to bully, but to bring peace to the area as well as to sustain it.

The Regional Minister commended the security personnel for their timely interventions and assured them of the Regional Co-ordinating Council's preparedness to provide logistics to enable them accomplish their mission.

Earlier, Mr Salifu held separate meetings with opinion leaders of both factions. He urged them to bury their differences and forge ahead to build the district that "had been left to the mercy of conflicts and wars."

Both parties agreed to respect the peace and pledged to cooperate with security personnel to maintain order.

They requested the withdrawal of media speculations that the conflict war sparked-off by an argument over Osama Bin Laden. Both parties refuted the allegation and asked for apologies from the authors of the story. On Tuesday afternoon, 17 persons with gun shot wounds were transferred to the Bolgatanga General Hospital for attention.

The Upper East Regional Tribunal at Bolgatanga had meanwhile, remanded 48 suspects on charges of indiscriminate firing of arms, obstructing traffic through blockade and causing damage to property.