A fresh ethnic conflict in Bawku, in the Upper East Region, has claimed the lives of six people.
According to information gathered, five of the deceased were murdered early on Saturday, December 24, 2022, in Patilm, a community of Busangas living in Bawku.
A two-year-old child, a ten-year-old girl, an elderly woman, and two men in their mid-forties are among the deceased whose bodies have been placed at the Bawku Presbyterian hospital.
A 12-year-old girl and two other adults who were hurt in the event are being treated at the Bawku Presby hospital.
Francis Ayuba, a retired teacher who lived in Daduri, a neighbourhood of Bawku, was also assassinated by unidentified shooters, increasing the death toll to six.
The event occurred the day after DCOP Darko Offei Lomotey, the head of the Upper East Regional Police, paid a working visit to Bawku and pleaded with the Kusasis and Mamprusis groups to put an end to the shooting and embrace peace.
In addition, he wanted to make a peace plea before the Kusasis celebrate the Samanpiid festival on December 30, 2022.
Bawku villagers have recently seen intermittent gunfire, which has slowed down economic activity and caused dread and terror among the locals.
Five people were killed on December 17, 2022, as a result of the shooting death of an elderly man in Sing-Naatin.
Two more people died on December 18, 2022, as a result of the intermittent gunfire from the day before.
The corpses of two people who died after being trapped in a burning house in Sangibo on December 20, 2022, were rescued by the police and given to the family for burial.
To put a stop to the ongoing ethnic unrest in the region, a number of parties, notably the Upper East Regional Peace Council, have urged the two sides to put down their weapons and light a peace pipe.