GHANA

Reports on Ethnic Relations  /  Rapports sur les relations éthniques

04 / 23 / 2003

IRIN

The article: "Security authorities avert clash in the north"

A combined team of soldiers and police fired several times in the air for hours on Tuesday to avert a clash in the Ghanaian northern town of Tamale between supporters of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).

Three people were injured, while a motorcycle and a bicycle were burnt during the clash.

Residents of the town told IRIN that trouble had been simmering for about two weeks, after the mayor of Tamale directed butchers to remove NDC flags which they had hoisted above their butcheries. They reportedly complied, but placed the flags on sheds and tables within their establishments. The mayor again asked for their removal, but the butchers refused.

Early on Tuesday, a group of people stormed the butcheries, breaking tables and chairs. When the butchers reported for business and saw what had happened, they gathered to discuss their next course of action. An armed mob started advancing towards them, but the military intervened, fired several times in the air, and called for police and military reinforcements. Using armoured vehicles and a helicopter, the security forces cordoned off the market area and separated the two factions.

A source who has been following a chieftaincy crisis in the Dagbon traditional area, where Tamale is located, told IRIN that Tuesday's near-clash had its roots in the crisis.

He said that prior to general elections in 2000, the butchers had put up NPP flags and posters. However, they switched to the NDC after the Dagbon king was murdered in March 2002 following a kingship dispute between rival clans. A state of emergency imposed after the death of the king was extended by President John Kuffour on 17 April.

04 / 18 / 2003

IRIN

The article: "President re-imposes state of emergency in Dagbon"

Ghanaian President John Kufuor on Thursday extended a state of emergency in the Dagbon Traditional Area, northern Ghana, two days after his ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) failed to secure the required 101 votes in the 200-member parliament to do so.

A statement issued on Thursday by the president's press secretary, Kwabena Agyepong, said the declaration took cognisance of the reasons parliament gave for not renewing the state of emergency. The measure was imposed in the Dagbon traditional area in March 2002 following the murder of the Dagbon king Ya Na Yakubu Andani and 29 others in a chieftaincy dispute between the Andani and Abudu royal clans.

In spite of several positive developments in the area, particularly, a recent declaration by the two factions in favour of a peaceful resolution of the Dagbon crisis, "there are still very delicate issues to be addressed", the statement said.

These include the burial of the late king, the reconstruction of the palace and the subsequent installation of a new king.

The communique said that given the "sensitive" nature of the ongoing negotiations and the advanced stage they had reached on some of the delicate matters, President Kufuor deemed it necessary that "the prevailing optimum security framework should be maintained to afford the negotiations a fair chance of success".

It noted that while a year-long curfew in the area would be lifted, the state of emergency would continue to be enforced.

Kufuor appealed to political parties, residents of the area and Ghanaians in general to adopt a nationalistic outlook on matters relating to the Dagbon Traditional Area.

He gave the assurance that the government would continue to work with all interested parties on the basis of good faith to find a lasting solution to the crisis in the shortest possible time. The security agencies were closely monitoring the situation, which would be reviewed when appropriate, the communique added.

Parliament has been recalled from recess to sit on Wednesday 23 April to consider the President's proclamation.

04 / 17 / 2003

IRIN

The article: "Clash between transporters leaves one dead, others displaced"

A clash over loading rights between two rival groups of transporters at Bugri in the Bawku East District of northeastern Ghana has left one person dead, displaced about 100 and led to the destruction of property valued millions of cedis.

A woman, Apuayuga Awinbilla, was burnt to death after being trapped in one of the houses, an eyewitness told journalists who accompanied the regional minister for the area, Mahami Salifu, to Bawku East on Wednesday. Three seriously injured men who were rushed to Bawku Hospital were responding to treatment, according hospital sources.

More than 25 houses were burnt and about 100 persons displaced following the clash, which occurred on Monday. A corn mill, several market sheds and barns were razed and livestock killed.

According to the eyewitness, trouble started when a local assemblyman, Yinusah Awuni, who is also a porter at the lorry park, tried to load a vehicle although it was not his group's turn to do so.

An argument ensued and eventually degenerated into a fight during which three other loaders were beaten unconscious with clubs.

When news of the dispute spread around the town, it became an all-out battle with mob attacks and the indiscriminate burning of grass-thatched houses.

Military and police personnel have been deployed in the area. However, no arrests had been made up to Wednesday. The regional minister gave the assurance that thorough investigations were being conducted to ascertain the cause of the riot and that those found responsible for any acts of lawlessness would be severely dealt with.

The Bawku East district has been troubled for some time by ethnic, chieftaincy and political violence.

Armed soldiers from Tamale, a major town in the north, have been stationed there to maintain the fragile peace that had prevailed since a land ownership dispute between Kusasis and Mamprusis left several people dead in 2002.

The article: "State of emergency lifted in northern Ghana"

A year-long state of emergency in the Dagbon traditional area of northern Ghana, was lifted on Tuesday after Ghana's ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) failed to secure the required 101 votes in the 200-member parliament to retain it.

The state of emergency was imposed in March last year following the murder of the Dagbon king Ya Na Yakubu Andani and 29 others in a chieftaincy dispute between the Andani and Abudu royal clans at Yendi, in northern Ghana.

It had been renewed every month until Tuesday when the second deputy speaker Ken Dzirasah called for a head count after a heated debate on the motion tabled by Defence Minister Kwame Addo Kufuor. The ruling NPP recorded only 88 votes in favour of the state of emergency while 73 members of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) voted against it.

Under the state of emergency, a curfew and censorship on news on and about the Dagbon crisis was imposed. All news had to be cleared by the minister of information before it was published. There was also a ban on mass gatherings and rallies.

A security officer in Ghana's northern town of Tamale told IRIN that the lifting of the state of emergency did not mean that the soldiers would go back to the barracks. They would still maintain their presence in the area until a lasting solution was found to the crisis, he said.

In a related development, the feuding clans agreed on 13 April on a peace deal to end the Dagbon conflict, at separate meetings with Addo Kufuor. The defence minister told journalists after the meeting that the factions had resolved to denounce the use of violence to settle the dispute and abide by the judicial process underway. They also called for the process to be speeded up, and recommended the use of traditional and customary processes and procedures to resolve the dispute, pledging to ensure that peace was maintained and fully restored to the Dagbon Traditional Area to enhance its socio-economic development.

Addo Kufuor regretted that since the problem started over a year ago, economic activities in the area had slowed down and no development had taken place. He said investors who had previously expressed interest to invest in the area had all withdrawn to the detriment of the people of Dagbon.