...WORRYING SIGNALS FROM MAMPRUGU (1B, NOV 27)

STORY: Vincent Amenuveve, Tamale

THE Northern Regional Police Command says it has picked up signals which indicate that some Mamprugu youth are being mobilised in the Northern Region for an operation in the Upper East Region in support of their kinsmen involved in the intractable Bawku conflict.
Consequently, a strong security team has been positioned at Nalerigu to deal with that threat to security.
According to the Northern Regional Police Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Angwubutoge Awuni, the youth had also resorted to psychological tactics, levelling all manner of allegations against security personnel to create disaffection for them.
He said the latest in the spate of allegations was the complaint lodged with the police by two women that they had been raped by some military personnel who were on patrol duties at Nalerigu.
ACP Awuni said the police had given the two women forms to go to hospital for medical check up to establish the veracity or otherwise of their claims.
He said if the allegation turned out to be true, the women would be made to identify the culprits for the law to take its course.
At the time of filing this report, ACP Awuni said the victims were yet to return the medical reports to the police.
He said he had asked the District Police Commander to trace the women for the medical reports to facilitate investigations into the allegations.
ACP Awuni said he also had information that the Military High Command had despatched a team to come to the area to also investigate the allegations against the soldiers.
The Police Commander explained that the a joint police-military patrol team heard sporadic gunshots in the area and decided to mount a thorough search.
He said in the course of the search, the team entered a room and discovered a man and a woman making love but the woman, who was apparently afraid, screamed and ran out of the room.
Not long after that, the commander explained, some residents of the area claimed that some women had been raped during the search.
He said the Regional Security Council might beef up security in the Nalerigu area to help maintain law and order, explaining that the withdrawal of the security would be dependent on how well the people conducted themselves.
Meanwhile, some residents of the area have allegedly burnt a house belonging to the prime suspect in the murder of the People’s National Convention (PNC) parliamentary candidate for the Nalerigu Constituency in the 2008 general election, Moses Alando Banaba.
ACP Awuni indicated that the police had told the chiefs in the area to appeal to the youth to desist from engaging in acts of lawlessness.
Meanwhile, the burial of the late Banaba is expected to take place at Nalerigu today.
Banaba was killed by unknown assailants at Nalerigu.
The prime suspect in the case, Salifu Tia, alias Salifu Zongo Naaba, a 31-year-old farmer, has been arrested by the police.