The fight that brought unity
Once upon a time, the people of Aboaso and Ntonso lived peacefully as neighbours until rich minerals such as gold and magnesium were found in the land that divided the two towns. That caused them to become enemies as both towns claimed they owned the the land that was rich with minerals.
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Apart from those resources, they found their border as a security asset - when one is standing on that piece of land, that person would be able to see anybody coming in and out of the two towns and so would be able to take immediate action if there was danger ahead.
The problem was that a large stretch of that land was close to Aboaso, while a small part of it was part of Ntonso. That brought the conflict between the two towns because they could not agree on which town was the rightful owner of the land.
Because of the conflict, none of the towns was able to have access to the rich mineral resources there.
At one of their council meetings, the chief and people of Aboaso took a decision to mine the gold on the land so that they could use it to embark on some development projects the town seriously lacked.
As a sign of peace, they wrote a letter to the chief and elders of Ntonso informing them about their intention. They, however, warned them not to interfere with the work there while they were working. The chief and elders of Ntonso received the letter but were not happy with its contents.
They, therefore, marshalled all their able-bodied men to prepare to attack the people of Aboaso when they begin their mining activities. By this time, the people of Aboaso had anticipated an attack on them and had prepared their young and adult men for a counter attack.
The day they began the mining activities, with the exception of children who could not do anything, every able-bodied adult got involved. While the women and the young men mined, the men laid ambush to counter any attack from the people of Ntonso. True to their anticipation, the people of Ntonso attacked them violently.
In fact, the fight was so fierce that by the time it ended at sunset, the only two surviving people on the battlefield were the chiefs of both sides. As they both looked around and saw how their people had been slain, it dawned on them that they had not given peace a chance and that if they had, all those heros would not have perished.
Now, the two chiefs wondered who would they rule over when all the people, except the children they left behind, were dead. That is what moved both chiefs to make peace and promise each other that generations after them would never use violence to resolve differences between their two towns.
Abdul Qabio Siaka,
Promise International,
P.O. Box 12,
Aboaso, Ashanti.