TEACHERS, WORKERS FLEE COMMUNAL VIOLENCE (Back Page)

Story: Zakaria Alhassan, Bunkpurugu

TEACHERS and workers are fleeing the Bunkpurugu/Yunyoo District of the northern region, leaving their students following the recurrent communal violence that rocked the district over the past three months.
A number of school buildings and property have also been destroyed in the ensuing conflict, thus compelling the students and pupils to stay at home. Some workers have also vacated their post for fear of their lives.
With reports of possible re-surgence of the violence in the district, the situation could worsen as it would further cripple the socio-economic activities in the already deprived area if immediate measures were not taken to bring the feuding factions - Konkombas and Bimobas together to smoke the peace pipe.
The Bunkpurugu/Yunyoo District Director of Education, Ms. Tampian Felicia, who disclosed this to the press at Bunkpurugu, said since the break-out of the conflict, most of the classes had been empty, and that pleas to the fleeing teachers to return have not been heeded.
The director disclosed this after an emergency meeting of chiefs, elders, members of the district assembly and the northern regional minister, Alhaji Mustapha Ali Idris, during a visit to the area by the latter to ascertain the prevailing security situation at the weekend.
According to the Presiding Member of the assembly, Mr Abdul-Majeed Duut Azumah, a number of people lost their lives in that conflict, while over 10,000 people were displaced and more than 400 houses burnt.
For some years now, there had been some skirmishes between the two ethnic groups in the area over matters of land and chieftaincy. However, the recent conflict was ignited as a result of a quarrel over a girl.
Mr Azumah described the prevailing socio-economic life of the people as deplorable, as a result of the conflict, coupled with the floods that devastated some parts of the northern sector.
The minister also observed that the region had suffered much from the internecine conflicts in the area over the years, and that it was necessary to find a lasting solution to all the misunderstandings to ensure accelerated growth of the area.
He, therefore, appealed to all stakeholders in the district to find a common platform where they could jaw-jaw and find amicable and sustainable solutions to their differences.