Accra, Ghana — Three days of violent tribal clashes in northeastern Ghana, which erupted on Sunday, have left an unconfirmed number of people dead and dozens injured. A night-time curfew is in force in the town of Bawku, in the Upper East region of northern Ghana, where the violence flared.
Earlier, the government reported that 18 people had been killed, but local journalists predicted that the true figure would be considerably higher, between 40 and 50.
Security reinforcements and armoured vehicles were dispatched to Bawku, although police said, Tuesday, the situation was now under control. Others reported an uneasy, but volatile calm, with sporadic clashes in villages outside Bawku; many fear more violence.
Up to 150 people were injured in the renewed clashes between members of the Kusasi and the Mamprusi communities in the Bawku area. There is no love lost between the two northern tribes. Rivalry between them is legendary and longstanding, including many instances of armed violence.
As well as lives being lost, buildings and vehicles were destroyed. Witnesses reported that armed youths, from both ethnic groups, rampaged through town, mounting barricades and road blocks and setting fire to cars, stores and homes. Up to five thousand people were forced to flee from Bawku. It is thought that some of those trying to escape were caught in the crossfire and killed.
Echoing a trend in other ethnic disputes in northern Ghana, a disagreement between a young Kusasi and a Mamprusi is reported to have led to an argument. After the row, a kiosk belonging to a Mamprusi was burnt down and then, in retaliation, a carpentry shop belonging to a Kusasi was torched, triggering the current escalation of violence.
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A police spokesperson said the original argument occurred over lottery sales, and described the subsequent attacks as "indiscriminate".
Police arrested a number of people who they said had "fired gunshots, extorted money, vandalised and assaulted people mercilessly."
Another version of events said the two men had disagreed over Osama bin Laden, the Saudi dissident suspected of terrorism by the United States.
Ghana state radio reported that the violence intensified after a group of Mamprusi ambushed some Kusasi youths, killing four, which led to a reprisal attack.
A year ago, during the presidential and parliamentary elections that led to a new political era in Ghana, at least 30 people were killed in Bawku in clashes between the two rival tribes.
The Mamprusi are known to support the New Patriotic Party of President John Agyekum Kufuor, who won the December 2000 poll. The Kusasi generally favour the National Democratic Congress party of the former president, Jerry Rawlings. Rawlings bowed out of national leadership in January after two decades in power.
Bawku has a population of 100,000 and is 880km north of the Ghanaian capital, Accra.
