Bolgatanga, Sept 11, GNA - Mr. Cletus Avoka, Minister of Interior, has described the withdrawal of the Bawku Mamprusi group from the Inter-ethnic Peace Committee set up to help bring peace to Bawku as unfortunate.

"I am sorry it has happened this way", said Mr. Avoka in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Bolgatanga on Friday. He said he had not been officially informed about that development since the Mamprusis gave a good reason for not being able to take part in a workshop organized last Monday for the committee. The Mamprusis had sent a message that they were mourning their relatives who were killed during last Sunday's violence in Bawku and so could not attend the workshop.

It was aimed at building the capaci ty of committee members so that they would in turn sensitize the people in the Bawku Municipality on the need to stop the cycle of violence and live in peace with their neighbours. It was therefore postponed and later cancelled. The Minister was scheduled to address it. Giving reasons why the Mamprusis decided to withdraw from the Committee, Mr. Mohammed Tahiru Nambe, a Mamprusi member of the Committee, said it was because the Mamprusi Community felt their views were not taken seriously and that they needed to take that action to drive home their grievances.

He complained that 28 young men from the Mamprusi community had been in detention for a long time after they had been arrested during one of the violent clashes in Bawku and the committee members had been advocating for some time for a quick trial, but nothing had been done. He said they also felt that the security was not being fair to them as their community, which is in the central part of the Bawku township, was always first to be visited by the personnel who harassed the people anytime there was an alarm about an outbreak of violence. He stressed that the cause of each violent episode be investigated properly and not hastily attributed to armed robbery, because some people who want to do harm would adopt the style of robbery so as to get away easily.

"We want peace, it is not as if we do not want the peace process to go on, but we want our interest to be acknowledged and taken into consideration", he said.

Mr. Nambe said the walk-out action was only temporary and that members would resume their position on the Committee whenever the community felt that they would be given fair treatment. Reacting to the allegation made for the withdrawal, Mr. Avoka explained that the committee had no executive powers and could not interfere with the law. 11 Sept 09