Fulani canker: Aning blames Agogo REGSEC for intractable violence

Security expert with the Kofi Annan International Peace Keeping Centre says the alarming gun battle between residents of Agogo and fulani herdmen is evidence of failure by the Regional Security Command (REGSEC).

Dr Kwasi Aning said REGSEC ought to have known that the factions were preparing for full scale gun battle after years of disagreements between the two groups.

"Where did they get the arms from?" Dr Aning asked. He said if members of REGSEC had been a bit more intelligence minded they would have known that there is a "whole network of manufacturing, transporting and stock piling of weapons by both sides."

Agogo has become a hotbed of violence between natives of the area and nomads better known as fulani.

The nomads have been accused of raping women in Agogo, shooting, maiming and sometimes killing the men. Their cattle also graze on farmlands owned by Agogo residents.

The killing of two residents by persons suspected to be fulani residents this week has only complicated an already precarious security situation.

The chiefs and the youth of Agogo are getting ready for an all out gun battle with the fulani herdmen. The residents say the security personnel have failed to protect them over the years and they will now protect themselves.

The issue has become so alarming the Inspector General of Police John Kudalor intervened with a call on personnel to devise strategies to restore peace, law and order in the area.

Discussing the matter on Joy News, Dr Kwasi Aning said the conflict has become intractable because of the security personnel have ignored early warning signal overtime.

Rather than blaming the fulanis for the current state of affairs in Agogo, the security expert believes the long years of "institutional failure" has contributed to the canker.

In 2012 there was a court decision which ordered gradual phasing out of the fulani nomads but little has been done in that regard.

He said similarly, courts have pronounced judgment on chieftaincy, land and natural resources in various parts of the country yet no step has been taken to enforce those judgments.

"It is not enough to say it is a fulani problem," Dr Aning said, adding, in 1986 Ghana agreed as part of ECOWAS treaty to allow some groups of fulani herdsmen into the country.

"We have not fulfilled our responsibility to the Fulani. ..Where are the veterinary services?"

"Can we be an effective state that delivers on its mandate and obligations?" he demanded.

The security expert would rather the two factions "sit and talk" as part of the road map to solving the problem.