Dissah residents still traumatised - 5 Years after communal attack, arson

ABU BAVUG, a 45-year-old man at Dissah, a farming community in the North Gonja District of the Savannah Region, had his entire household of about 10 displaced when some unknown gunmen attacked the community in 2018.

His house, food items, motorbikes and other properties were also set ablaze.

The attack occurred at midnight when everybody had retired to bed. The sound of sporadic gunshots from different angles woke his family and each of them fled into the bush for safety.

Looking dejected and traumatised, Mr Bavug recounted that while the sporadic shooting was ongoing, the gunmen had sprinkled petrol on all the houses and set them ablaze.

“When it happened, all my children and wives run into the bush. It took me some days to search for them in the bush after the situation was calm. I lost about 10 cattle, foodstuffs and other properties,” he narrated to the Daily Graphic.

He said he had to start life afresh after losing everything. Though, he is currently picking up and had managed to put up a shelter for the family, they are always having a flashback of the trauma and experiences.

Just like Mr Bavug, Salifu Mariam, a 50-year-old woman, had a similar traumatising experience. Her son was shot in the process while their entire house was razed down by fire.

She said, “I used to trade and farm at the same time but I lost everything to the conflict and now things are hard for me”.

Clashes 

Mr Bavug and Madam Mariam are part of about 1,000 residents of the Dissah community that were displaced after a communal attack in the area.

On Saturday, June 13, 2018, some gunmen numbering about 20 attacked the community at midnight, fired sporadic gunshots and set the entire community ablaze, a situation which was attributed to a chieftaincy dispute.

The violence continued till Sunday dawn; until an intervention by military and police personnel restored calm to the area.

The incident left several people injured, while properties worth thousands of cedis were destroyed. Following the attack, the police arrested 40 suspects and arraigned them before court. 

Impact 

An Elder of the Community, Asafo Bavug Salifu, told the Daily Graphic that the incident has had a toll on the lives of the people in the area.

He described the incident as an unprovoked attack, saying “We didn’t do anything wrong to warrant such an attack because we have been living together with everybody or ethnic group peacefully over the years.”

“It was after the attack that we were told that the Dissah community was not the target but the gunmen were going to attack the Salugu community. However, when they got to Dissah, one of them fell from the motorbike so the rest thought he was attacked and decided to attack us,” he noted.

Mr Salifu added that “it is having a bad effect on our children because anytime they hear sounds like gunshots, they begin to run and shout that the assailants are coming.”

He indicated that though the community members had some support from philanthropists and the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), they were still struggling to recover from the devastating incident, both psychologically and financially.

He, therefore, appealed for support for those who were yet to recover from the incident, to help alleviate their plight.

Never again 

Five years down the line, the scars, trauma and devastating impact are still glaring on the faces and minds of the victims.

The community, with a population of about 1,000, which was completely razed down, is rebuilding, as several people, particularly men who fled the village, have since returned. 

Teachers, health workers and civil society organisations (CSOs) that fled the area have also returned to the community to continue with their work, but the fears and distress still linger on in their minds.

The traditional leaders of the Wasipewura Traditional Area say that never again should such an incident happen because the people of Dissah are peace-loving.

“What happened at Dissah five years ago won’t happen again because we all see ourselves as one people, we have been living together for years and we have even inter-married,” Adam Yakubu, Spokesperson for the Overlord of the Wasipe Traditional Area, said.

He said the traditional council had instituted measures to purge the area of communal clashes, to ensure peace and accelerated development.

Visit 

A team of journalists from Ghana, Sierra Leone and Senegal, with an interest in conflict and peacebuilding reporting, visited the community last week to ascertain the impact of the violence on the people and how they were putting up.

The visit was facilitated by the Media Platform on Environment and Climate Change (MPEC), in partnership with Minority Rights Group Africa (MRGA) and Media Reform Coordination Group (MRCG), with funding support from the European Union (EU).

It formed part of a two-year project dubbed “Engaging Media and Minorities to Act for Peacebuilding (EMMAP)”.

The visit allowed the journalists to witness, first-hand, and better understand the everyday lifestyle, condition and welfare of minority communities, to help build and consolidate sustainable peace.

Media blackout 

The Executive Director of MPEC, Ama Kudom-Agyemang, lamented that the Ghanaian media did not give prominence to the communal violence that erupted in the Dissah community, saying “It appears there was a total media blackout on the incident, which even worsened the plight of the victims.”

She, therefore, urged the media to develop an interest in reporting on issues concerning minority groups or communities and the less privileged to help protect their rights.

For the residents of Dissah, without justice being served, their only choice is to move on with life, but the trauma and distress are not erasable.

However, they hope that the community they call their “only home” won’t experience the horrific incident again. 

Writer’s email:mohammed.fugu@graphic.com.gh