Ghana
Ethnic clashes disrupt Ghanaian north

afrol News, 1 April  - In the Dagbon Traditional Area, in Ghana's Northern Region, 28 people have been killed in fighting between rival clans during the last week after the paramount chief of the area, the Ya-Na, Yakubu Andani II, was killed. The impoverished region is now under a state of emergency and the Ministry of Information has imposed a censorship on news from Dagbon.

This weekend, the government of Ghana declared a state of emergency in the Dagbon area, and a dusk to dawn curfew consequently was imposed on the entire area. President John Kufour, announcing the state of emergency, immediately sent police and military troops to Dagbon to enforce the curfew. 

As fighting continues in Yendi - the traditional capital of the Dagomba people - people are fleeing the area, leaving their homes and fields behind. People are reported to be "pouring into" Tamale, the province's capital, which is 108 km away from Yendi. 

The fighting started after the announcement of the killing on Monday, 25 February, of the Dagbon paramount chief, the Ya-Na, Yakubu Andani II (66), in a dispute for power between two royal families. Two national Ministers - the Northern Region minister, Prince Imoru Andandi, and Interior Minister Malik Al-Hassan Yakubu - have resigned over the issue. Ex-Minister Yakubu, also the MP representing Yendi, was accused of inciting the ethnic violence, but has denied these charges, saying he was a personal friend of the Ya-Na.

According to a report by the Ghana News Agency (GNA) yesterday, the government had decided to impose a news censorship of the situation in the Dagbon. "I am with the authority of the President serving you notice that unless you are reporting an official release from my office you should clear any other news items on the Dagbon affair with the ministry," Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, the Minister of Information, said on Saturday. Government information is already curtailed; while local sources report that at least 50 persons had been killed, the government claims the number is 28.

According to a report by the daily 'Accra Mail', "Dagbon is one of the most important links in the Mole-Dagbani Empire, which extends from Northern Ghana all the way to Burkina Faso. It occupies very large tracts of the Northern Region and holds great potential for food production. Indeed, traditionally, the Dagombas have been associated with rice, maize, millet and yam farming," it added. Despite this, the report said, Dagbon towns and villages "are pathetic and impoverished. There are no good schools, no good health facilities, no good roads, no pipe borne water."

The northern parts of Ghana are also affected by a local drought, and harvests were predicted to be significantly below average on several localities. Parts of the impoverished region would need food aid, according to a recent WFP report. 

It is not verified which effects the disruptions will have on the food security in northern Ghana, but if fighting goes on for a long time, causing more people to flee, effects could be severe. An estimated 2,000 people are already displaced by the tension. 

Meanwhile, the French media watchdog Reporters sans frontières (RSF), calls for the immediate suspension of the requirement that media submit their stories about inter-clan violence for approval by government censors. "To our knowledge, no media in Ghana have incited any murders," said Robert Ménard, general secretary of RSF. "Nothing can justify the implementation of government censorship. It is important that the citizens of Ghana have access to more than just official information." RSF also called for the repeal of the 1994 Emergency Powers Act, which goes against the country's constitution.

Sources: Based on Ghanaian press,RSF  and afrol archives

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