Tuesday, March 22, 2011

New strategy needed to unite Northern Ghana after years of tribal conflict

(Accra, 22 March 2011) Tribal conflict in Northern Ghana requires the urgent involvement of the Ghanaian Government and civil society organizations according to a new report by WACSI (West Africa Civil Society Institute) and the Africa Project at SIPRI (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute). The report is launched today in Accra, Ghana.

The report, entitled “Governance and Security in Ghana: The Dagbon Chieftaincy Crisis”, offers a thorough background to the crisis and provides recommendations to support peace in Northern Ghana. Ten years after the murder of Ya Na Yakubu Adani II, the king of Ghana’s northern Dagomba kingdom, Ghana still lacks a systematic strategy to resolve this more than 200-year long conflict.

The report stresses an urgent need for the Ghanaian Government to depoliticize the crisis and to develop a comprehensive program of a political and economical integration of Northern Ghana. It also urges the cooperation and involvement of civil society organizations to set up a broadly inclusive peace plan that promotes tolerance, equality, justice and security for all.

The report is the second country report of the “Africa Security and Governance” project, led by SIPRI and supported by OSI (the Open Society Institute).
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For editors

West Africa Civil Society Institute
WACSI is a special initiative of the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA). It seeks to strengthen the institutional and technical capacity of CSOs to engage in policy formulation, implementation, and the promotion of democratic values and principles in West Africa.

Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)
SIPRI is an independent international institute dedicated to research into conflict, armaments, arms control and disarmament. Established in 1966, SIPRI provides data, analysis and recommendations, based on open sources, to policymakers, researchers, media and the interested public. SIPRI is named as one of the world's leading think tanks in the 'Think Tank Index' issued each year.

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