Members of the Kusaag Youth Movement have called for the immediate removal of DCOP Dr. Saibu Pabi Gariba the Upper East Regional Police Commander, Captain Ekor Sagoe, Commanding Officer for the Military in Bawku, and the Municipal Chief Executive Amadu Hamza for the renewed clashes witnessed in Bawku and its environs in recent times. According to the Kusaag youth, people in the area are now living in a state of distress and fear as they can no longer distinguish between their enemies and the military. Below is the full statement: PRESS CONFERENCE ON MILITARY BRUTALITIES AND ATROCITIES IN BAWKU ON 15TH, 16TH AND 17TH MARCH 2022 BY KUSAUG YOUTH MOVEMENT Ladies and gentlemen of the press we have invited you to the Kusaug Traditional Council here to express our deep concerns about the security situation in Bawku on the 15th, 16th and 17th March, 2022. First of all, we wish to express our gratitude to the security agencies in Bawku for their tireless efforts in maintaining peace in Bawku over the years and in recent times for this needless conflict in Bawku. By extension, we thank the Government, and the President, HE Nana Addo-Dankwa Akufo-Addo in particular, for his concern and commitment to maintaining peace in Bawku. However, on the 16th March, 2022, we were dismayed about the brutish and unprofessional behaviour and conduct of the Military detachment in Bawku who are there to maintain peace among the people due to the ethnic conflict. Unfortunately, what happened yesterday in Bawku cannot be described as peacekeeping effort by any stretch of imagination, as the military besieged Buabula and Zoogo, suburbs of Bawku inhabited mainly by Kusasis, and under the guise of maintaining peace, shot at unarmed men, women, children and livestock and burnt houses into ashes. We have never, for the history of the numerous ethnic conflicts in Bawku, witnessed this gross unprofessional conduct before and, therefore, we have reason to suspect that the conduct of the Military yesterday has portrayed themselves as losing their impartiality for taking side against the Kusaasi, hence their unprofessional conduct leaves much to be desired. Context of the military brutality In 2008, women and children were slaughtered in cold blood in the Buabula community of Bawku when the Mamprusis disguised themselves in military uniforms and besieged the community and committed those murders. The men took cover and the Mamprusis cowardly carried out these heinous and barbaric crimes, which have not been investigated till date. We are informed that the military repeated this history by besieging the place in the wee-hours of yesterday, without any vehicle. The men mistaking them for Mamprusis sought to defend themselves this time around, and three soldiers were injured in the process and airlifted by Military helicopter for medical attention in Accra. The soldiers then went on rampage since the dawn of yesterday, shooting everyone on sight. An unarmed man (Issahaku) was chased into his room and shot and his lifeless body was left in the room since no family member could go near the house for fear of been met with the same act of murder as meted to their brother. A 13-year-old boy who was running after his father who was taking cover was shot dead. A young lady who was trying to run away was also shot and left in a critical condition. Others were maimed and some are in critical conditions as well. Effect of the military raid on the community in Buabula on Wednesday Deep fear has gripped the community and people have abandoned the community at the time of this press release, for the simple reason that they can no longer trust the military to protect them. Those who have been shot and are critically ill in hospital needing blood transfusion and other forms of medical care from their relatives cannot find their relatives since they have virtually left the community, The basis of our believe in the partiality and unprofessionalism of the military operation yesterday Ladies and gentlemen of the media we have a number of reasons to believe that the military in Bawku are not even-handed in their operations. Some of our believes are backed by evidence and others are inferred: Social media sources associated with Mamprusis are awash with praises for Mr. Satiim Yiremia (the son of Mr. Sule Yiremia, a member of Council of State) who is a Mamprusi for ensuring that the right military personnel have been sent to Bawku to cause harm to the Kusaasis. The said social media post reads as “thanks Satiim Yirimiah for sending proper military to handle those pigs the bandacut military who only obey Abugrago are gone”. We would have dismissed these as unsubstantiated social media posts, but the influence of social media messages by Mamprusi sources, culminating in the ethnic conflict in Bawku since December last year, have taught us not to dismiss any social media message from their sources. We therefore believe that what happened yesterday is a confirmation of the social media message by the Mamprusi congratulating one Mr. Yirimea for influencing the selection of military of their (Mamprusi) preference to Bawku. Not surprisingly, we have seen in social media a Mamprusi military officer alleged to have been among the military who besieged Buabula yesterday. What kind of professionalism is this, if not that they are executing an agenda! The Regional Police Commander is on record to have openly said in Pusiga at the Chief Palace that, “the Kusaasis have crossed the red line” he drew for them hence he is going “to deal drastically with Kusaasis”. This has been manifested yesterday and today when the joint military and police detachment under the command of this same Regional Police Commander Stormed Highways and brutalized, vandalized, stole and destroyed properties of women, traders and commuters including their vehicles. Videos and picture evidence of these brutalities and violation of the rights of these innocent citizens who are far from the epicentre of the conflict are there for all to see. The Military’s