Chokosis, Konkombas clash again

The Northern Regional Police have arrested five persons for their roles in renewed communal clashes between the Chokosis and the Konkombas, this time over a piece of farmland in Saboba in the Northern Region.

According to the police, three persons were picked up on Saturday, while two were picked up yesterday.

The police also retrieved 24 cartridges from the suspects at Tambo and two single-barrelled guns and 49 cartridges from those arrested at Bonbaba.
 All the suspects are in custody assisting the police with investigations.

President’s advice

The disturbances happened barely 24 hours after President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who was on a tour of the North East Region, had made a passionate appeal to the feuding factions in the Chereponi area to soften their positions and amicably settle their differences.

According to the police, the first incident occurred last Saturday evening between Chokosis at Nambiri Zongo and residents of a Konkomba community called Tambo, both in the Saboba District in the Northern Region, over a parcel of farmland.

The second occurred about 9 a.m. yesterday, during which a group of Konkombas burnt Koli, a Chokosi village near Nambiri in the same district.

The Chokosis, also known as the Anofus, retaliated by burning Nanduni, an already devastated Konkomba village.

Police

The Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Northern Regional Police Command, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Mr Mohammed Yusif Tanko, who confirmed the latest clashes between the two ethnic groups, said a police and a military team in the area had brought the situation under the control.

He said no casualties were recorded in the two separate incidents.

DSP Tanko said so far calm had returned to the area, while the situation was being monitored.

However, some residents of the neighbouring Chereponi District in the North East Region have expressed fear that the clashes could escalate to their district.

In a telephone conversation with the Daily Graphic, a resident of Chereponi, who did not want his name to be mentioned, confirmed the latest clashes in Saboba, saying that the security agencies had intensified their patrols in the two districts but tension was still high, with the fear of reprisal attacks.

Background

Saboba and Chereponi are neighbouring districts, with Chereponi now part of the North East Region, while Saboba remains in the Northern Region.

The two districts are inhabited by the Chokosis and the Konkombas.

Recent clashes between the two ethnic groups in the two districts over farmlands have claimed many lives, along with the destruction of properties, forcing people to flee the areas of conflict to neighbouring Togo and parts of the Northern Region.