Ho, June 27, GNA - The people of Alavanyo and Nkonya Traditional areas have resolved to meet and thrash out the decades long conflict over land that has led to intermittent skirmishes between them. This was evident when the representatives of the two groups in the company of members of the Consultative Committee, tasked to prepare the ground for peace talks, met Mr Kofi Dzamesi, the Volta Regional Minister, to formally invite him to visit the two traditional areas on Thursday to have a feel of the beginning of improving peaceful relations between the two groups.

Nana Kofi Kodia II, Adontenhene of Nkonya, said it had been difficult but something had been achieved and that people from the two traditional areas ''resist the suspicion and rancour that has characterized their relations in the past.''

Togbe Tsedze Atakora VII, Paramount Chief of the Alavanyo Area, said the current development should correct the impression that the people there "do not know what to do with their energies". Mr Dzamesi pledged the moral and material support of the government towards achieving peace between the two traditional areas. Nana Ampem-Darkoh II, Ankobeahene of Nkonya Traditional Area, led in the song "We Shall Overcome" with the representatives of both sides who, for first time, held hands. As part of efforts to broker peace between the people of Nkonya and Alavanyo Traditional areas, the Volta Regional Coordinating Council constituted a committee comprising of the clergy and other citizens to facilitate the peace process.