CURBING CONFLICTS UP NORTH, THE WAY FORWARD

A GNA Feature by Samuel Adadi Akapule

Bolgatanga, Jan. 24, GNA - One cannot escape the fact that during the period 1994/1995, the Northern Region of Ghana was confronted with ethnic conflict, which was marked by violence with tragic consequences. The two main tribes involved in the conflict were the Konkombas and Nanumbas, who had lived in harmony and co-existed since 1942. The Nanumbas, who ruled over the Konkombas described the latter as settlers. The Nanumbas also insisted that the Konkombas should no longer do farming on the land and demanded that they vacated their land. At a point the Konkombas also demanded to have their own chief enskinned.

These were the main issues of contention that resulted in the conflict between the two groups at that time. Precious human lives were lost and property valued at millions of cedis destroyed. Many hundreds of inhabitants were also displaced. Schools were closed down; teachers and other workers fled the area; shops, markets and banks closed down and economic activities grounded to a halt in the war zone. The Government and nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) at that time spent billion of cedis, which could have gone into development projects on peace-keepers and peace mediations. Government's interventions included the setting up of "Operation Gong-Gong" made up Police personnel under the command of Commissioner of Police David Walankake (May His Soul rest in Peace) who were deployed to the conflict areas.

It took the Government, religious leaders, traditional rulers and other stakeholders a lot of time and energy to persuade the factions to smoke the peace pipe.

Though the Region gained relative peace at that time there was still the feeling of anxiety and fear. Organizations that wanted to bring development to the area were still entertaining fears thereby crippling development in the Region.

The people themselves realized that they were being drawn back in terms of development as a result of conflicts. Just when development started to pick up again, the Overlord of Dagbon was assassinated in violent circumstances in 2002, which also claimed a number of lives. A new conflict situation was created, this time between the two gates to the Yendi Skin - the Abudu and Andani Gates.

The Government again had to spend billions of cedis on peacekeeping operations, mediations and the re-building of the late Ya-Na's Palace in Yendi. Resources had to be diverted to restore normalcy.

Here again many development partners had to take to their heels leaving their projects uncompleted. Schools closed down, and economic activities came to a standstill. Again the Region's development suffered a setback.

The Government and other stakeholders had to work hard to seek a lasting solution to the impasse between the Abudus and Andanis. The recent arrest of two men with large quantities of ammunition and guns in a coffin by the Bimbila Police must be a signal that all is not well yet.

There has been speculation in the media that the Konkombas and the Nanumbas were planning to attach each other. Thanks to the media and the security personnel who played a crucial role that led to the timely seizure of the weapons. "Na tuma Pam" -Thank you very much. Had it not been the intervention of the security personnel there could have been another pandemonium at this time again in the Northern Region.

However, there is the need for the security personnel to be more vigilant and to intensify their search for more unlicensed weapons in parts of the Northern Region, especially in the Konkomba and the Nanumba areas, in addition to enforcing the ban on small weapons manufacturing. The Northern Region cannot continue to be referred to as one of the poverty endemic areas when a handful of people continued to traumatize the inhabitants and set the development of the area backward. Those caught perpetrating and fomenting conflicts must be made to dance to the music to serve as a deterrent for others even if it means being incarcerated for life. The Region has suffered too much and it is about time to say enough was enough.

The Elite of the area, especially politicians and opinion leaders, should endeavour to make it as part of their responsibility to sensitize the people of the area to stay away from conflicts since they retarded development. The young should be schooled in the virtues of pursing peace and using peaceful means to resolve conflicts.

The Gold Coast was regarded as a model Colony by the British Colonialists because of the peaceful way the Founding Fathers went about fighting for independence. They sent delegation after delegation to London to state their case instead of taking to arms. When they had to fight they used bottles rather than guns. It is not Ghanaian to kill human beings. Scenes of streets strewn with dead bodies are un-Ghanaian. There is the need for the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) to mount an educational campaign on peace in the Northern Region. The Commission should be properly resourced and equipped adequately to extend its activities to the remote parts of the Region. There is also the need for NGOs, religious bodies and public spirited groups to enter into peace building and conflict resolution in the communities. To widen the scope, there is the need to educate development partners to factor peace-building and conflict resolution into their developmental strategies.

Indeed the Northern Ghana Peace Building and Conflict Resolution initiative in collaboration with the West Africa Network for Peace must be commended for their efforts in this direction. The two bodies had in the past organized series of workshops in the Region to sensitize staff of NGOs and development workers on the need to reflect on justice and human rights; peace building and conflict resolution and how they could impact on the designs and management of their development projects. However, there is more to be done and other development partners must emulate them.

There is also the need to organize workshops on inter-faith dialogue in conflict resolution. Inter-religious differences often create or exacerbate an otherwise dormant conflict. Faith based dialogue is therefore necessary to minimize or avert the misuse of religion to create conflicts.

A thorough research into conflict in the Northern Region should be carried out and kept in the libraries, which could be used as a rich base in educating the people of the area on the harmful effects of conflicts. Traditional Leaders as custodians of the land should play a leading role in maintaining peace in the Region. They should also be equipped to organized periodic durbars to talk about peace at the community level. They could also be supported to put bylaws in place to punish anybody, who would want breach the peace in the communities. People should be made to know that conflicts do not bring any healthy development; they rather draw back development and result in the loss of precious lives, not to mention damage to valuable property thereby making life unbearable for a lot of families. Ghanaians, especially sons and daughters of the North, should wake up and marshal all they can to do away with the protracted conflicts in the area to pave the way for accelerated development in order to catch up with other regions of the country. People in the area should be sensitised to use dialogue in resolving their differences instead of violence. Posterity would judge this generation if it did not act to put a stop to the never-ending conflicts in the area. Let the Golden Jubilee celebration shower abundant grace on the nation with a larger portion going to the Northern Region to turn the hearts of the people to appreciate the need for peaceful co-existence. 24 Jan. 07