Press Statement By Concerned Anlo Youth

We members of the Concerned Anlo Youth home and abroad are deeply worried about developments in Anloga in particular and the whole Anlo traditional area in general. We have followed with keen interest developments that have taken place in our motherland since the commencement of maneuvers by Francis Nyonyo Lumorvi Atitsogbui, son of Naniga Adzidah Atitsogbui, to usurp the Awomezi, which culminated in the bloodbath on Thursday, November 1, 2007 and the mayhem thereafter.

 Human Rights Abuses: The police and the military were engaged in indiscriminate and sporadic gun shots, break-inns, mass arrest of both young and old men, and dehumanizing drills, thus creating a complete state of panic and terror throughout the whole traditional area. Several people have been reported missing with countless others displaced.

It has been established that all men in Anloga bound vehicles were ordered at gunpoint to alight and were subjected to dehumanizing drills including making them to have sex with the bare ground.

There was evidential proof that the police detachment dispatched to maintain law and order had fired live bullets into the unarmed civilians who gathered to resist the procession of Nyonyo instead of adopting civil control measures, for example, the use of water canons, tear gas and truncheons. Thus abdicating their fundamental role of protecting life and property.
Israel Ahadzi, Mama Senyo and Mewuco Tugba were shot at point blank range by trigger happy policemen. Israel Kobla Amenume, a cripple, died in police custody as a result of torture and adoption of unorthodox means to elicit information from him.

The anloga cell which could accommodate between 6 and 8 suspects at a time was Jammed packed with 96 suspects, thus leaving them no elbow room.
 Government Complicity: There have been series of petitions and representations that have been made to and through to government before and during the crisis all to no avail.

The government through its lawyer, the Attorney-General, on one hand, obtains a court injunction restraining the parties in the preparation and installation of Awomefia, but on the other hand, the same governments ironically defies the same court injunction by providing unprecedented security protection for Francis Nyonyo Atitsogbui?s party.

 Stagnation of Socio-Economic Activities The imposition of a dusk-to-dawn curfew which stretches from Atorkor right down to Keta has caused stagnation of socio-economic life of the people, for example, crab-picking, fishing and so on.

The indefinite closure of educational institutions in the affected areas.
Demands
We demand the immediate removal of the Volta Regional Police Commander, DCOP Bernard Derry
We also call for a complete cessation of unnecessary and indiscriminate arrest, detention and torture of all manner of persons arrested for life to return to normalcy.
We condemn in the strongest term the deliberate maneuverings to circumvent sacred Anlo traditions in order to install a paramount chief with surreptitious support of the state.
We demand an independent autopsy on all those killed as a result of the bloodbath.
We resolve to seek redress for the affected victims and hope that due compensation is paid to them and their families
We condemn in the strongest term the government?s reactive instead of a proactive response
We also call for the setting up of an independent commission of enquiry under a certificate of urgency to investigate events before, during and after the disturbances.
Signatories 1. NYAMADOR, Del S. 2. AGBLEZE, Mayor 3. TOGBIE ABOTSI III 4. TSIKATA, P.Y. 5. OKUDZETO, Samuel Ablakwa 6. NUTAKOR, Selorm Afagbemi 7. OSABUTEY, Gideon 8. TAMAKLOE, Etse 9. AMABLE, Freda Yayra 10. AMUZU, Mawuli 11. AGBEZUDOR, Atsu 12. AMEKPOR, Julius 13. MORTOTI, S 14. AMUZU, Tuinese 15. TUGBA, Godwin 16. KPEDOR, Kenneth 17. NYAMADOR, Kwame 18. AHIAKU, Kwashi 19. AGBEZUDOR, Daniel 20. ADIKA, Elvis 21. ATTIPOE, Joseph 22. AHIAKU, Atitsogbui Philip