Fleeing Gbiniyiri residents drown in Black Volta

A large number of people fleeing communal clashes in Gbiniyiri, in the Sawla-Tuna-Kalba District of the Savannah Region, are feared dead after the boat carrying them capsized on the Black Volta River.

The victims, displaced by a bloody land dispute, were attempting to cross the river into neighbouring Côte d’Ivoire when the accident occurred yesterday at Dinie Tuonbo.

Six people had been rescued by an emergency response team as of the time of filing this report.

Confirming the incident, the Savannah Regional Director of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), Mahama Zakaria, said a rescue team had been deployed to the scene to search for the missing victims.

The violent clashes, which erupted last Sunday over a parcel of land at Gbiniyiri, had already claimed six lives, while more than 18 others had sustained various degrees of injuries.

The conflict has displaced more than 1,500 people, mostly women, children and persons with disabilities.

The majority of the area appeared deserted last Monday in the wake of the violent clashes as the Daily Graphic visited the community that once bustled with life along the Sawla–Bole highway.

Villages such as Seiyiri and Nasoyiri near Sawla, along with Bodi, Kakiase, Gbogdaa, and Doli on the road to Bole, appeared abandoned—their usual vibrancy replaced by silence and fear.

The Inspector General of Police, Christian Tetteh Yohuno, led a team of security chiefs to assess the area last Tuesday, and deployed 300 state security personnel to maintain peace and order in the community.

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