Security agencies asked to deal decisively with conflicts in the North

Accra, Feb. 25, GNA - Alhaji Gilbert Seidu Iddi, former Northern Regional Minister, on Wednesday, called on the security agencies, to deal promptly and decisively with people who breach the peace in the region, in order to facilitate the rule of law.

He said this was the only means to fight public perception that people could break the law with impunity and get away with it. Alhaji Iddi, who was speaking to the Ghana News Agency, in an interview in Accra, supported the call by the Regional Security Council for a programme to disarm supporters of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the main opposition New Patriotic Party, who were implicated in the recent violent clashes that claimed one life and led to the destruction of property in Tamale. "I express regret for the loss of life and property. I believe that people of different political inclinations should see their differences only in the area of how to achieve the national development agenda," he said.

Alhaji Iddi noted that it is unfortunate when political differences are misconstrued to mean enmity, leading to the unleashing of havoc. He said if the political violence was not stopped, it could give the leeway for people to exploit the simmering chieftaincy and religious conflicts in the region and spread the feud to engulf the country. Alhaji Iddi called on all well meaning citizens of the region and Ghana at large to endeavour to prevent the situation from escalating. He recalled that when he was a Minister during the 1994 bloody ethnic conflict in the region, the Rawlings-led NDC Administration, was able to bring lasting peace to the

area, by introducing a Permanent Peace Negotiating Team. Alhaji Iddi called on the political leadership of the region, to organise a roundtable to come out with a new initiative that could ease the political tension.

He appealed to members of the NDC, to embrace the circumspective nature that President John Evans Atta-Mills has so far approached the transition process, by avoiding all acts that could undermine his administration. Alhaji Iddi said President Mills non-vindictive approach to political power, was meant to establish a benchmark for the promotion of national unity, cohesion and integration.