The Upper East Regional Co-ordinating Council has asked the residents of Bawku not to engage the military in combat over recent disagreements. 

The Upper East REGSEC in a press release issued on Thursday, February 2, said any move by the civilians to retaliate will cause more havoc to them. 

It is thus urging the residents to rather consider a peaceful resolution other than a combat with the security force.

“Again, REGSEC appeals to both factions to desist from any attempt to engage the military in combat, since that will be catastrophic on the part of the civilians. 

“We should therefore be charting a peaceful roadmap in Bawku,” portions of the statement said. 

The release added that arrangements are underway to de-escalate the conflict in the area. 

“Meanwhile, arrangements are being made by the REGSEC to engage the good people of Bawku with the aim of bringing down the tension in the area.”

Already, The Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) has refuted allegations that soldiers deployed to Bawku to restore calm and maintain order have killed seven locals.

The military in a statement dismissed the allegations and chronicled several incidents of violent attacks in the area. 

It described the claims as false and unfounded.

The military, however, stated that they engaged a group of armed men and neutralised six of them.

“In a separate incident, sporadic firing was heard around Sabongari General Area. A Patrol Team dispatched to assess the situation spotted unknown armed men at Gozesi-Valley side in Sabongari wearing black T-shirts with Black Hoodies. 

Troops engaged them and neutralised six (6) armed men. During the engagement, some armed men took cover in a mud house within the immediate vicinity to engage the Team,” GAF said.