Laadi Centre for Peace Building and Security Centre (LACPSC- Ghana) has called on government to strengthen security at the entry points along the Bawku West-Zebilla border.

The group in the statement signed by the Director of Technical and Research, Nana Kweku Odiasempa II indicated that the “LACPSA-GHANA received with sadness news of an extremist attacks/threats along the borders of Ghana/Burkina Faso in the Bawku West-Zebilla.”

According the group, “Available information indicates that there is heavy influx of foreign nationals to Zebilla and its environs by victims of the extremist attack. This is a course of worry to all.”

According to the statement, the situation poses “a serious terrorist threat as well as extremist operations/networks along the Bawku /Zebilla enclave as the Bawku conflict remains a challenge.”

LACPSC- GHANA further highlighted certain measures to be considered in the interim to ensure the safety of residents as well as contain the situation.

They are:

1. Immediately activate a security-community collaboration within affected areas and other parts of the country. This is because, the security cannot be everywhere. This will form an important source of intelligence gathering.

2. Effective inter-security intelligence sharing to enhance operational efficiency.

3. Activate the neighborhood watchdog committees within Zebilla and its environs. They will help to identify and interrogate any strange character and stabilize the level of fear and panic.

4. Citizens should be encouraged and educated on how and where to report the activities of criminal gangs (like armed robbery and others) who might take advantage of these extremists’ activities to torment the local folks.

5. Timely deployment of plain clothes security officers on locations will be useful.

6. Citizens should be encouraged to volunteer information amongst themselves and to the security. This is because everyone knows everybody in the communities.

7. Local communities must take their security serious by collaborating strategically amongst themselves including chiefs and community elders

8. The local folks should be encouraged to look out for strange persons and monitor their activities as a matter of urgency.

9. Indigenes should be encouraged to volunteer support to the helpless as they try to deal with the humanitarian needs arising out of the influx.