Peace Council initiates peace building in Bimbilla, Bunkpurugu

The National Peace Council (NPC) has begun peace building initiatives in Bimbilla and Bunkpurugu, two towns in the Northern Region engaged in chieftaincy disputes, to help bring lasting peace to the troubled areas.

The initiative is also aimed at preparing the minds of the people to accept the ruling of the Supreme Court and the Regional House of Chiefs on the chieftaincy cases before the two institutions.

In line with the objective, the NPC, with support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the European Union (EU), is training women and youth groups in Bimbilla and Bunkpurugu in peace building strategies on the theme: “Strengthening the capacity of women and youth in peace building".

Peace building

At one of the training workshops in Tamale for 20 participants that comprised youth and women representatives selected from the two towns, the Northern Regional Executive Secretary of the NPC, Father Thaddeus Kuusah, said the council found it necessary to bring on board the youth and women because they formed the majority in the society.

He said they were being trained so they could find solutions to any problems that may come up after the ruling.

Fr Kuusah added that a platform would also be created for participants to share experiences and new insights into ways to handle complicated issues.

Support

The Gender Analyst for the UNDP, Ms Jennifer Asuako, said at the end of the training it was expected that the participants would become technically skillful in finding solutions to conflicts, as well as gain better insights into their causes.

She explained that women suffered most during conflicts, so they were targeted for training so that they would help with mediation efforts, as well as in preventing conflicts.

Ms Asuako said the youth was picked to be trained in peace building, considering that they were active participants in conflict situations.

She said the UNDP would continue to support peace building initiatives in the country to ensure that there was peace everywhere.

Background

The towns of Bimbilla and Bunkpurugu in the Northern Region have been centres of chieftaincy disputes that have been ongoing for many years. Many lives have been lost as a result of the misunderstandings, and properties too have been destroyed.