Bawku Conflict: Long-Term Peace In Troubled Township Is Tied To Lasting Economic Recovery
Stakeholders have asserted that peace in Bawku must go hand-in-hand with economic development
The Samanpiid Festival late in 2024 painted a portrait of what life could be in the troubled Bawku township. The annual event injected life into a community that has suffered from violence between two ethnic groups.
Samson Asaki Awingobit, a native of Bawku and the Executive Secretary of the Importers and Exporters Association, said: “You could see the number of people that came to town. There were people selling water, selling food, selling meat; you could see that there was patronage."
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Bawku was a renowned commercial town because of its proximity to two major borders - Togo and Burkina Faso. Traders from these countries and even Mali and Niger always chose the Bawku market for trade. However, this has not been the case for years because of the tensions.
The conflict in Bawku dates back to the 1930s and has the Kusasis and Mamprusi as the main feuding actors. The tensions revolve around the occupancy of the Bawku skin, which represents chiefly authority in the Bawku traditional area.
As a result of a colonial policy arrangement, the Bawku Chief holds paramountcy over Kusasi, Mamprusi, and other local chiefs.
The Kusasis are generally known to be the indigenes of the Bawku traditional area, while the Mamprusis have claimed a historical presence in Bawku since the 17th century and have asserted that they started the chieftaincy in the region.
In 1957, tensions began to escalate between the Mamprusis and Kusasis over the Bawku chieftaincy, which led to the installation of two separate chiefs for the same position.
The government recognises Naba Asigri Abugrago Azoka II, who was enskinned on 24th April 1984, as the current chief of the township.
These tensions have culminated in a protracted conflict that has caused several casualties over the decades.
Most recently, a five-month-old baby girl was among the dead after attacks on some travellers linked to the tensions.
A local reporter suggested that between February 11 and 14, 2025, close to 30 people had been killed because of the conflict.
Regardless of the ethnic tensions, Awingobit maintained to YEN.com.gh that the number one enemy in Bawku was poverty, which was also an outcome of the conflict that has quelled a once-vibrant trading town.
Curfews mean small businesses struggle to gain a foothold. Even substance activities like hunting have also been affected. Awingobit noted that walking around with a gun amid the tensions is a hard sell.
"Gone are the days when you could go to the bush and hunt and get meat to sell and make ends meet."
Dr Kojo Impraim, the Director of the Media for Peace and Sustainable Development Programme at the Media Foundation for West Africa, also stressed the importance of the economic layer in addressing the conflict in the township with bout 120,000 residents.
"We have shut down the economy. We have shut down business. We have shut down almost all the opportunities because once there is a curfew consistently, nothing can go on.”
He noted that the state needed to work towards peace, which would be the first step in a full turnaround. He expected that more stability could be the signal for business to return to Bawku.
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However, Impraim remains concerned about the partisan influence that continues to fuel the conflict.
"It is time we put behind partisan inclinations to the Bawku crisis and begin to face it with a developmental lens.”
He suggested a security and policing approach, which he described as a soft governance approach to building peace in Bawku. An example of this would be community policing, which Impraim maintained is critical to building trust.
“They need to ensure that citizens have trust in them when it comes to protecting the communities and that leads to legitimacy in policing. The heavy-handed approach doesn’t necessarily bring peace and tranquillity to communities.”
"What we are seeing sometimes is that police and our security agencies exist to protect a regime or particular political party. That is not what we need as we develop a country."
President John Mahama took a trip to Bawku seven days after his inauguration and reiterated his resolve to restore peace in the troubled township. He described peace in Bawku as one of his priorities.
At the end of the day, stakeholders maintain that economic development can restore Bawku to the trading hub it used to be.
"When there is peace... Burkina Faso will want to pass through Bawku, Niger will want to pass through Bawku, Mali will want to pass through Bawku and other countries," said Awingobit.
Proofread by Bruce Douglas, senior copy editor at YEN.com.gh
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Source: YEN.com.gh
