Twenty-three people, including a 12-year-old have been killed in the Bawku clashes between January and February alone.
A survivor and his deceased son
Earlier this week, it was reported that some drivers transporting pepper and tomatoes from Bawku to Accra were shot dead, with several others sustaining injuries. Some of the survivors, while recounting their ordeal and showing their bullet-ridden vehicles to the media, noted that unknown gunmen opened fire on their cargo trucks. Eventually, three of the drivers were killed instantly while those who survived were rushed to the Kwame Nkrumah Teaching Hospital in Kumasi.
Conflicts in the Upper East Region and its associated sporadic gunshots have forced many of inhabitants out of their homes and stalled development in the area. There are frequent attacks on farms, roads, fields, around houses and from one location to another.
Some individuals have described the Bawku zone as becoming militarized while some experts have also warned that conflict in the zone is creating room for extremists and terrorist infiltration into Ghana.
Some Ghanaians have called on government to dig deeper into the root causes of the conflict and to determine whether there are criminal elements on the ground as well as persons behind their felonious activities.
Meanwhile, nothing has been put in place to help victims of the violent conflict nor restore socio-economic activities in the region.
The SMG has also called on government to prioritize restoring peace between the feuding ethnic groups in order to curtail the loss of human lives, fleeing of public servants and the lack of development in the Bawku zone.
17th February, 2023
By Gwendolyn E. Dickens
