Bolgatanga, July 4, GNA - The Upper East Regional Coordinating Council on Friday inaugurated a 17-member Regional Peace Advisory Council (RPAC) tasked with the responsibility to prevent conflicts and disaster in the Region.

The Council is chaired by Deputy Superintendent of Police, Mr Jerome Kanyog, Regional Commander.

Inaugurating it, Mr. Alhassan Samari, Upper East Regional Minister, tasked members to complement efforts of the Regional Security Council (REGSEC) to pre-empt conflicts and also help address the numerous land, ethnic and chieftaincy disputes that were inimical to the Region's development efforts.

Mr Samari noted that conflict prevention was far cheaper than conflict management, and urged the Council to work harder to enable them to report on early warning signals of conflicts for the appropriate remedial actions to be taken to address them before they escalate into crisis situation.

He expressed regret about recent conflicts in the region, citing the Bawku crisis and said they have damning consequences on development. "What is even worse is that, scarce resources that should have been channelled towards the socio-economic development of the Region are being used to manage conflict situations such as the one in Bawku", he stated. Mr. Samari expressed optimism that with the inauguration of the RPAC, it would give more impetus to the REGSEC's ability to nib conflict situations into the bud. He advised the Council to ensure regular and timely submission of its reports to the REGSEC to enable it deal with situations before they escalated. The Regional Minister pledged the unflinching support of the Regional Coordinating Council to the RPAC, and urged the Media to support its course. DSP Kanyog assured the REGSEC that members of the Council would work hard to help avert any conflict in the region and also help resolve existing ones to pave way for development.