Interior Minister, IGP jet to conflict-hit Bimbila for assessment

Interior Minister, Ambrose Dery, and Inspector General of Police (IGP) David Asante-Apeatu will visit conflict-hit Bimbila Tuesday to meet a special investigative team probing the recent violence.

The chieftaincy conflict that started last week in the Northern Region town has so far claimed ten lives – seven women and three children.

A dozen more are reported injured.
Northern Region Police Public Relations Officer (PRO), ASP Ebenezer Tetteh, has told Joy News the visit by the IGP and the Interior Minister is to enable them a get first-hand information on the cause of the latest shootings in the town.

He explains the visit by the two security chiefs is “a fact-finding mission and also to [enable them] see at first hand the destruction that has occasioned [since] the conflict.”

The sporadic shooting in the town on Thursday, February 9, 2017, was triggered by a misunderstanding between two royal gates.

The gun battle between the two royal gates happened despite a 12-hour curfew imposed on the area, a situation that threatens to plunge the poverty-ravaged township into yet another chaotic situation.

Efforts to end the perennial Bimbila chieftaincy bloodshed have proved elusive to different governments.

However, the special investigative task force that has set up to probe the recent clashes have made some headways.

Some fifteen persons were arrested on Monday in connection with the conflict but were granted bail by a Tamale circuit court . They are expected to re-appear on 27 February 2017.

There is also a strong police and military presence in the town and patrols have been heightened to enforce the curfew on the town.

ASP Tetteh revealed police were in Bimbila to meet the leaders of the two conflicting factions on Saturday to secure a cease-fire.

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | George Nyavor | [email protected]