The Foundation for Security and Development in Africa (FOSDA), a regional civil society organisation with focus on security and youth development, has called for an independent investigation into the recent killings of three persons in Bawku.
Mrs Theodora Williams-Anti, Executive Executive Director, FOSDA, made the appeal in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Accra.
Following accusations that some military personnel were behind the killings of three residents of the area on Thursday, January 18, 2024, the Ghana Armed Forces refuted allegations that military personnel deployed on Operation Maida Buuri to restore calm in the area killed three innocent persons at Sabongari, a suburb of Bawku.
Mrs Williams-Anti said: “We are very concerned about the event happening in Bawku, especially with the allegations of the military killing three young people from Bawku.”
“It seems that it’s a very worrying situation and if we don’t take swift action, it can escalate and put the whole nation in jeopardy. So we’re calling for a swift, urgent investigation into the matter as soon as possible.”
She said FOSDA believes that with the allegations and counter allegations and the denials by the military, the people of Bawku were gradually losing trust in the security services in the areas, which were supposed to protect them.
She noted that with the recent developments in the Bawku area, a lot of people had been calling for the military to withdraw from Bawku, which was very unfortunate, adding that if care were not taken, the whole situation would degenerate into something else.
She said there was the need for urgent investigation into the Bawku killings so that stakeholders could make decisions on what really happened and the way forward.
Mrs Williams-Anti also called for an urgent review of the security situation in Bawku as part of measures to ensure a peaceful way forward that would bring some peace to the Bawku area in the near future.
She said there were many angles to the Bawku situation, but the most important thing was to resolve the current impasse between the security agencies and the people, which was very important in finding a lasting solution to the conflict in Bawku.
“We need to restore the trust of the people in the security agencies, not just the military, but the whole security apparatus,” the Executive Director said.
Mrs Williams-Anti appealed to the people of Bawku to be patient and not take the law into their own hands.
Shea added that the security and peace of Bawku matters to the whole country.
She urged the people of Bawku to be patient and let the established institutions bring peace to the Bawku area.
She further appealed to them to support every initiative that would bring lasting peace to Bawku.
