Curfew Imposed At Hohoe

Two persons are reported to have been shot dead in Hohoe, while an unspecified number sustained injuries, during reprisal attacks between the Zongo community, on the one hand, and other residents of the town, on the other, early Monday.

The palace of the Paramount Chief of the Gbi Traditional Area, Togbega Gabusu, the Hohoe market and the lorry park were burnt down, while the Outpatients Department (OPD) of the Hohoe Municipal Hospital was vandalised.

A number of individual shops were also reported to have been destroyed in the reprisal attacks.

The entire Hohoe town was held hostage, as residents remained indoors, while many travellers could not enter

the town from Golokwati, Jasikan or Lolobi.
The streets of the municipality remain deserted, with a tense atmosphere prevailing.

A reinforcement of warriors or “Asafos” from Peki and Alavanyo was said to have arrived in the town, apparently to fight for and defend their kinsmen.

The swift response by a police and military reinforcement, however, averted the escalation of hostilities and a possible bloodbath.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of the Interior has, on the advice of the Volta Regional Security Council, imposed a dawn-to-dusk curfew in

Hohoe and its surrounding areas with immediate effect.

A statement signed by the sector Minister, Mr W. K. Aboah, and issued by the ministry said there was a ban on all persons in Hohoe and its surrounding areas from carrying arms, ammunition or any offensive weapon and any person found with such items would be arrested and prosecuted.

Reports from Hohoe indicate that a member of the Zongo community there was electrocuted while working in the vicinity of the hospital.

When he was sent to the hospital for medical attention, the authorities allegedly demanded his health insurance card.

By the time the insurance card was sent to the hospital, the young man, whose identity was not immediately known, had died.

The death of the young man was said to have angered some of the Zongo youth, who allegedly assaulted some members of staff of the hospital.

The traditional authorities, angry at the action of the Zongo youth, banned the Moslem community from burying their dead on any Gbi (Hohoe) land.

Last Sunday, the Imam at Hohoe Zongo, Alhaji Alhassan, died and when the Zongo elders sought permission from Togbega Gabusu to bury him, the chief was said to have asked those who had assaulted the members of staff of the hospital to apologise before being granted permission to bury the dead.

The reports indicated that the Zongo youth disregarded the chiefs request and went ahead to bury the Imam.

For disregarding the order of the paramount chief, some Hohoe youth went and exhumed the corpse of the dead Imam and deposited it by the road side.

That was said to have infuriated the Zongo youth, who went on rampage, setting the chief’s palace, vehicles, shops, markets and lorry parks ablaze and vandalising the OPD of the Hohoe Hospital

Some Hohoe youth are also alleged to have engaged in reprisal attacks. They were said to have torched many stores and businesses belonging to Moslems in retaliation.

For a greater part of the day, the Hohoe-Santrokofi road remained blocked, with no vehicle leaving Hohoe or entering the town.

The police and the military are said to have massed up in Hohoe to bring the situation other control.

Meanwhile, the Volta Regional Minister, Mr Ford Henry Kamel, has appealed for calm in the municipality.