Chereponi conflict requires peacekeeping force- Dr. Kwesi Aning
Kwesi Aning, a security analyst, has welcomed the relative peace pervading Chereponi in the North-East region and its environs with cautious optimism.
“I do hope that there is calm,” he said on Joy 99.7 FM Tuesday.
According to him “the real test of peace is when the troops move away and there is no conflict and life is back to normal,” Dr. Aning noted.
The feud between the Chokosis and Konkombas has a historical antecedent dating back to colonial times. The real cause of it a subject of speculation. However, pundits have argued that the renewed conflict has been ignited by land disputation.
What is beyond debate however is that the conflict has claimed several lives, destroyed property, provoked a number of security interventions including a ban on the use of motorbikes, curfew and a visit by the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
In a news report, Joy FM’s Gifty Andoh Appiah noted the plea of some BECE candidates who have been hemmed in by the conflict, placing their impending examination in the balance.
However, relative peace is reported to have returned to the community. This follows a recent working visit to the conflict zone by the Defence Minister, Dominic Ntiwul.
But Dr. Kwasi Aning wants nothing to be taken for granted.
To police the prevailing progress, he wants a peace-keeping force stationed at the conflict zone. This will be part of transition measures for lasting tranquility in the community.
According to the security analyst, those instigating the conflict may be outside the conflict region. It will, therefore, take a standby force to ensure that the “conflictpreneurs are cut-off.
The peacekeeping force will also ensure that guns in the possession of the warring factions are retrieved: this will limit the ability of the parties in conflict to retool.
More than that Kwasi Anin also wants stakeholders to focus on those who deal in guns. This will ensure that people do not get access to guns. “It will end the proliferation.”
This will include “focusing on those who benefit from this conflict.”
Lastly, Mr. Anim is calling for the cost analysis of the ongoing conflict to be made known to the warring parties to dissuade them from the protracted fight.
For example, what is the cost of the conflict in the procuring of the arms, what is the cost of keeping the peace, what is the cost of the properties that have been destroyed?
“Let the people see the stack reality and the choices they have made.” These are monies which could have been used to bring development to the community.
“According to him, stability attracts money. We let people know the cost of their actions. “