The Northern Regional Office of the National Peace Council (NPC) has debunked publications in sections of the media that it organised a meeting to discuss a chieftaincy dispute between two Komkomba factions, during which one person was killed.

It emphasised that it was not true that a peace committee, which worked under it, held a meeting at Sanguli-Labaldo during which gunmen killed a National Identification Authority (NIA) official.

The NPC said the meeting was not known to it, and it also did not sanction any such meeting, a statement, read by Very Reverend Father Thaddeus Kuusah, Executive Secretary of the NPC, Northern Region Office, said.

On Thursday, October 8, a meeting was held to discuss a chieftaincy dispute between two Konkomba factions at Sanguli-Labaldo in the Saboba District of the Northern Region, where some gunmen, who were also armed with bows and arrows, invaded the meeting firing gunshots, killing one person and injuring another in the process. 

However, a section of the media reported that “the man met his untimely death on October 8, 2020, as the quasi-peace committee, which works under the Peace Council, met to discuss a chieftaincy dispute between two Konkomba factions,” the statement said.

“Fact is that the Northern Regional Office of the NPC, in collaboration with the District Assemblies of Saboba and Chereponi, set up two peace committees in the two districts to support the work of the District Security Councils (DISEC) with the recurrent of conflicts in the two districts,” it said.

“The peace committees work as a team and not as individuals and often under the direction and supervision of the DISEC and the NPC.

“Though the Peace Committees design and implement activities to enhance peace in the respective districts, other partner organisations invite committee members to assist in the implementation of district level activities.” 

The statement explained that “as a result, Saboba Peace Committee Chairman was invited to chair an Implementation Committee of a structure known as College of Kikpakpaan Chiefs.

The College of Kikpakpaan Chief's initiative was arrived at, at a stakeholders’ meeting organised under the Konkomba Youth Association Traditional Council Committee.”

“In the particular situation of Sanguli, the Chairman of the Saboba Peace Committee went to undertake a private initiative, which was not known to the Peace Council.

Secondly, he went there not as a Peace Committee Chairman but the Chairman of the Implementation Committee of College of Kikpakpaan Chiefs and so that activity cannot be said to be Peace Council activity but purely a private initiative by the Chairman and should be treated as such.”

The statement said: “It is, therefore, misleading to associate that activity with the Peace Council and thus the heading “National Identification official killed after gunmen attacked Peace Council meeting”, does not reflect the truth and should be discarded as such.” 

“Any person or group of persons associating that activity to the Peace Council should, therefore, cease henceforth,” it added.

“The Peace Council has enjoyed the cooperation of factions in conflicts and will continue to pursue the path of peace for the country.”

It said no false publication would deter the Peace Council from seeking to create peaceful environment for citizens in the country, especially in the Northern Region, to attain the needed development that it deserved.