Uneasy calm has returned to the Bawku municipality and its environs, following the deployment of security personnel and the placement of a dusk-to-dawn curfew in the area by the Upper East Regional Security Council (REGSEC) in consultation with the Ministry of the Interior in the wake of an ethnic clash between the Mamprusis and Kusasis which claimed several lives. Police reports confirmed the number of deaths, adding that houses including that of thi Bawku Presbyterian Hospital Medical Director, Dr. Francis Asana and stores numbering over 15, had been burnt down. There were reports also that over 13 casualties had been reported at the Bawku Presbyterian Hospital. At the time of filing this report, Dr Asana had fled the area, leaving the hospital with no doctor to handle emergency cases. A medical assistant on duty at the hospital, Mary Abugri, in an interview said she and other staff members were doing all they could to handle the situation. "We were only afraid that the fighters would come in to attack us or some of the injured persons, but now that we have been assured of security, staff will work without fear, I pray that the shooting will cease so that cases of casualties do not get out of hand," she added. Communities affected by the current ethnic conflict include Gingande, Mazima, the new Kariyama market, Sabongida and the new lorry station, all within the Business Center, as well as Garu, Zabugu, among other places. Chairman of the Upper East REGSEC, Alhassan Samari, who is also the Upper East Regional Minister, briefing the press, said measures including the deployment of more security personnel and mounting of clash barriers had been put in place to enforce the ban on the carrying of unapproved weapons and other dangerous items in the Bawku municipality. This, according to him, would ensure that no more arms entered the area. Source: Daily Guide