Vice-President John Dramani Mahama, has on the instructions of the president, appealed to the Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, to revive mediation talks between the Abudu and Andani factions of the Dagbon chieftaincy dispute. The Otumfuo has been leading a Committee of Eminent Chiefs (CEC) mediating the Dagbon chieftaincy crisis which escalated in 2002 culminating in the killing of the Dagbon Overlord, Ya-Na Yakubu Andani II. The Committee, together with the disputants drew a road-map to peace but the Abudus pulled out of the talks, complaining the Andanis had violated the road-map to peace and that Otumfuo and the CEC had failed to enforce the provisions of the road-map. The spokesperson for the Abudu Royal family said the Abudus had lost confidence in Otumfuo and his committee as impartial peace brokers, arguing that while the road-map to peace had stipulated that they (Abudus) be allowed to use the Gbeewa Palace for the performance of the funeral rites of the late Ya-Na, Mahamadu Abdulai - an Abudu overload - who died in the 1989, the family had been denied access to the palace for this purpose. While appeals were being made to the Abudus to return to the talks, 15 persons all believed to be members of the Abudu Royal Family were hauled before an Accra Fast Track High Court and charged with the murder of the Ya-Na but the court acquitted and discharged them Tuesday, March 29, 2011, evoking angry protests from the Andanis who accused the government and the judiciary of giving them a raw deal by denying them justice. President JEA Mills said he felt frustrated and anguished by the High Court ruling. “As a nation, we must be interested in justice. A lot of people are talking about the ruling; it is not whether it is brilliant or not brilliant, the fact still remains that the Ya-Na was murdered... and as a nation we should be interested in finding out who killed the Ya-Na,” he stated. He said the government will appeal the ruling – which the Attorney-General Martin Amidu did Friday – but added mediation will be pursued alongside for lasting peace in the area. Consistent with that, he dispatched the Vice-President to Kumasi to consult with the Chairman of the Committee of Eminent Chiefs on the resumption of the talks. Speaking after the meeting with the Otumfuo, Vice-President Mahama, said “We pray that the Otumfuo and the other chiefs working with him, have good health and wisdom to be able to bring lasting peace to Dagbon.” He said the north and Muslim communities cannot afford conflicts in the country because they are deprived and conflicts aggravate the deprivation as all their resources are plundered in the conflict. Story by Malik Abass Daabu/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana