5,000 displaced, 50 killed in communal clashes

Over 50 people have been reported killed and 150 others injured in three days of fighting between members of the Mamprusi and Kusasi ethnic groups in Bawku, northeastern Ghana, police in the Ghanaian capital, Accra, told IRIN on Tuesday. Over 5,000 people have fled the town, which is 880 km from Accra and has a population of 100,000.

Bawku was relatively calm on Tuesday morning, but sporadic clashes were still taking place in villages just outside the city. Police described the clashes as "indiscriminate attacks", adding that destruction of property, including houses and vehicles, was evident in the town. Extra military personnel with armoured personnel carriers and police, were deployed from the nearby cities of Wa and Tamale to Bawku on Monday while a dusk-to-dawn curfew imposed on Sunday was still in force.

"The current clashes erupted when in an argument over lottery sales, a kiosk belonging to a Mamprusi man was burnt down," police told IRIN. "A shade belonging to a Kusasi man was in retaliation burnt down, sparking off the clashes," police told IRIN.

Radio Ghana quoted the deputy commander of police, Reynolds Kwakye, as saying that from Sunday, there had been a rampage in the town with people burning houses and vehicles, mounting barriers and molesting other people. Kwakye said on Monday that 18 people had died, including two lorry drivers, while 23 had been arrested.

The radio said the fighting intensified after some Mamprusis ambushed a group of Kusasi youths, killing four of them. Some Kusasis mobilised themselves and staged a retaliatory attack.

Over 30 persons had died in Bawku in December 2000 in clashes between the two ethnic groups during presidential and parliamentary polls, according to the police.