There is goodness in the offing as Doba and Kandiga chiefs pledged to smoke the proverbial  peace pike.

The conflict between what can be described as twin communities  have ravaged us for a time now. The conflict they  say has to do with “who is the rightful owner of a piece of land”.

It is gratifying to know that the Paramount Chief of Sirigu,  the respected Naba Roland Atogumdeya Akwara III together with other opinionated  chiefs have  started a peace process months ago.

They have now invited the two factions: Doba and Kandiga to the Sirigu chief’s palace to work on ending the conflict.

Doba and Kandiga chiefs pledge to smoke peace pipe

The invitation was graciously accepted by both factions who were heavily represented and supported by their elders, Tindaamas, Assemblymen, and opinion leaders.

Both sides of the  the factions in the conflict pledged to lay down their arms through a series of engagements with their youth at their various community levels.

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Speaking through his linguist, the  Doba Chief, Naba Clement Anongtara Asakiya pledged his commitment to the peace process and that he will allow the mediating team to work to ensure peace returns to both communities.

“From the Doba side, we want to pledge our commitment to the roadmap for peace. We will speak to the youth just as we have been speaking to them, to drop their arms and let us sit down and talk. There is no way that weapons will bring a solution to this problem. And so, we want to pledge our commitment [that] we will continue to talk to the youth. The painful truth is that everyone has had a negative bite because of this conflict.”

“So, we are now all beginning to know the reality, that, we cannot solve a problem by using violence. We will sit down and talk to our brothers from Kandiga. We want to also plead with Kandiga Naba and his people to also talk to the youth at his end for all of us to put down the weapons. We have become a laughing stock to the world and I think, enough is enough. Doba Naba pledges, and we pray and hope that very soon this conflict will be a thing of the past.”

The Kandiga chief  Naba Henry Abawine Amenga-Etego II, also indicated that the land dispute has affected development in his traditional area and pledged to engage the youth of Kandiga for peace to prevail.

“I have promised to advise our youth to lay down their arms and look forward to peace to coming back to the area so that we can live together as we used to be. So, we have all promised to advise our youth. The conflict has retarded development in the area. As we all know; war has no development. We have always been talking to the youth to understand and let everything come to an end. It is only unfortunate that this problem has come, and nobody even wants it, it retards development.”

Sirigu Naba excited as Doba and Kandiga chiefs pledge to smoke peace pipe

Naba Atogumdeya Akwara III, who was honored by their presence was full of joy that the two factions have agreed to lay down their weapons to give peace a chance.

“You can invite conflict zones and they will decide not to come. They may come, and when you ask them, they decide not to tell you whether they will agree or not. But you are a witness to what they said. They said that they have agreed to lay down their weapons. We are relatives and chiefs, so they cannot deceive us that they are going to lay down their weapons and tomorrow they will be fighting. It is true, that, people have gone there, and they have pledged or vowed that they wouldn’t take up guns, and the next day you will hear gunshots. We are not saying that after this, we may not hear [gunshots], but at least, it will be minimized and then we will start the peace process. We expect them to go back and speak to their youth and sooner than later we will also get back to the communities to talk to the youth”, he stated.

The roadmap for peace has been put together by the descendants of Atalmiiro which are  made up of Zeko, Yelwongo, and Tuungo in Burkina Faso, and Sirigu, Navrongo, and Bolga-Sherigu from the Ghana side.

It is refreshing that we are seeing some glimpses of hope in this conflict which have led to some irreparable damages and unfortunate loss of lives on both sides.

We continue to pray for peace in the Upper East region and Ghana as a whole.

Let us share this good news to our family members and friends by sharing this post.

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