Parliament renews state of emergency in north

Ghana's parliament has renewed the state of emergency in northern Ghana for a further month to keep the lid on a chieftancy dispute in the area. A curfew and other security measures were imposed after fighting between two rival clans of the Dagomba tribe led to the killing of its king and 29 other people in March 2002. The state of emergency applies to the Dagbon traditional area around the northern town of Tamale. The measure was allowed to expire on Friday last week, but was belatedly extended by parliament on Monday after the ruling New Patriotic Party of President John Kufuor managed to scrape together a majority in favour of the measure. Although members of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) voted in support of renewing the state of emergency, they cautioned that it was having an adverse effect on trade with neighbouring Burkina Faso and on commercial activities within northern Ghana. In April 2003, a parliamentary resolution for an extension failed to get majority votes to legitimize it, thereby compelling Ghanaian President John Kufuor to seek renewed parliamentary approval for the imposition of the current state of emergency in the region.