CEASE FIRE - STUDENT PLEADS WITH FACTIONS

By Stephen Kwabena Effah
Thursday, 20 September 2007

Distraught about the reported conflict between Konkombas and Bimobas, which has resulted in the death of six people and scores of houses burnt, a Konkomba student at the Accra Polytechnic, Augustina Nte-domoh Namuel, decided to do something about it.

Yesterday, she came to the Ghanaian Times office in Accra to seek our help in sending a passionate appeal to the groups at Jimbali, in the Bunkpurugu-Yooyoo District of the Northern Region, to immediately end the fighting.

She also called on Bimobas and Konkombas resident in Accra, to come together as one people to intervene in the clash which started last Sunday.

Ms. Namuel, 26, who came to the Times office early in the morning, expressed the fear that if an immediate solution is not found to the conflict, it could result in an escalation of the fighting.

The third year Higher National Diploma Fashion student who looked disturbed, made reference to the 1994 Konkomba-Dagomba conflict, saying that what started then as a small misunderstanding later degenerated into a disaster for the area.

She said news about the fighting between the two ethnic groups came as a shock to the Konkombas resident in Accra, adding "I have not been feeling fine since I heard about the clashes. It breaks one’s heart when you hear such a thing."

She noted that a number of Konkombas resident in Accra she spoke to are ready to join forces with Bimobas in Accra to seek security support to go to the area and broker peace.

Her mother and three siblings are at Saboba, the main Konkomba settlement, in the Saboba-Chereponi District.

She told the Times that this is not the time for her people to fight each other as "we are all one people," pointing out that "educationally, we are lagging behind and instead of catching up with the other regions, we are fighting among ourselves."

She called on the leaders of the two ethnic groups to lead in bringing about a ceasefire in the district to ensure peace and development.

The intermittent conflicts between the two ethnic groups were renewed last Sunday, allegedly following a misunderstanding between a Bimoba man and a Konkomba man at the Jimbali market in the district.

Many people have reportedly sustained various degrees of gunshot wounds and are said to be receiving medical attention at the Nalerigu Hospital and nearby clinics, while about 300 houses in several communities have reportedly been burnt to ashes.