The Bawku lnter-Ethnic Peace Committee, has identified,the lack of commitment on the part of the people to forgive one another as a major obstacle to the peace process in Bawku. It has, therefore, added counseling to its programme to identify and pro­vide sustained counseling and relief services for such persons. It has also drawn an elaborate plan of implementation, covering ground softening, community meetings, radio discussions and the engagement of cit­izens of the area resident outside Bawku to find solutions to the conflict. The Secretary to the committee, who is also the Planning Officer of the Bawku Municipal Assembly, Mr Abu­gre Joseph Atagyine, who read a state­ment on behalf of the committee at a peace conference in Bolgatanga, said the persistent nature of the Bawku con­flict had made it no longer news. The conference was organised by Ansarul Islam, a Muslim youth organi­sation based in Bolgatanga, in collabo­ration with the Upper East Regional Peace Advisory Council, to provide a platform for stakeholders to talk peace and fashion out a way forward for gen­uine and sustainable peace for the region. Participants were drawn from youth organisations, women groups, Bawku citizens based in Bolgatanga, the Bawku Inter-Ethnic Peace Committee, Christian and Muslim leaders, tradi­tional leaders and members of the general public. Mr Atagyine said the Bawku con­flict had assumed a complex dimension and that the committee was determined to collaborate and work with stakeholders to bring permanent peace to the area, adding, "We want to use this plat­form to thank all those who have been working to establish peace in Bawku." He asked residents of Bawku to exercise maximum restraint in ·these difficult times and appealed to them to co-operate with the security agencies and be bold enough to volunteer and provide accurate and reliable information that would enable the agencies to flush out criminal elements in the area. "We want to appeal to our people, particularly the youth, to let the guns go silent and permanently too. In fact, the guns should be thrown away to enable us to concentrate on the recon­struction and development of our beloved and cherished area," he said. The Deputy Upper East Regional Minister, Mrs Lucy Awuni, said in spite of the well-known fact that there could be no development without peace, that reality had continued to elude the peo­ple of Bawku. He said the once most peaceful region had degenerated into an embar­rassing and chaotic situation, adding that aside from the protracted Bawku conflict, there were several other pock­ets of conflict across the region ema­nating from land, ethnic and chieftain­cy litigation. Source: Daily Graphic