Tamale, June 24, GNA - Alhaji Mustapha Ali Idris, Northern Regional Minister, on Tuesday said conflicts in the Northern part were orchestrated and financed by certain interest groups who did not reside in the region. He said such interest groups, some of whom hailed from the area, had political or economic motives for funning conflicts, which were to their advantage and did not care about the hardships their actions brought to the people.

Alhaji Idris was speaking at a two-day workshop on "Transformative conflict prevention and peace building" for selected Imans of the Dagbon Traditional Area in Tamale organised by the Assemblies of God Relief and Development Services (AGREDS- Ghana). Participants at the workshop would be taking through topics such as: conflict handling mechanisms, concepts of conflict, violence and peace, retributive verses restorative transformation and dealing with the past.

Alhaji Idris appealed to those funning the conflicts in the north to put a stop to it and rather help build stable societies that would bring about development and prosperity to the people. He also cautioned the public against attacks on the police and other security personnel who intervened to restore peace when there was conflict saying: "You are attacking the government when you engage the police in fighting and in that situation you would not be spared". The Minister said it was an embarrassment for political leaders in the North, when their colleagues in the South continue to ask them the reason for the almost daily conflicts in their area. Alhaji Idris said peace and security were vital prerequisites for meaningful development and that was why religious leaders needed to play a more active role in the search for peace.

"It is imperative for religious leaders and peace builders to work hand-in-hand in order to complement each other's efforts to realise our synergies for maximum impact.

"Neither the security agencies nor civil society organisations working alone can achieve this kind of peace", the Minister said. Mr Theophilus Ibrahim Dokurugu, Senior Programme Officer of AGREDS said his organisation had organised series of workshops involving different stakeholders in peace building in the Northern Region to enhance their capacity to resolve conflicts.