Eight injured, 21 arrested in bloody clashes in Wa (photos)
There is uneasy calm over a community in Wa following violent clashes on midnight of Tuesday that left eight persons hospitalised, at least one of them wounded by gunshots from security personnel.
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The Regional Minister, Alhaji Amin Amidu Sulemani, says he has directed the police and other security forces, including the military, to mount security over the community with effective patrols and intelligence work to contain the high tension that had wrapped the people of Dondoli and Djedjeyiri since the clashes.
There have been no reported casualties, though.
It was unclear what had triggered the violence at midnight, but land dispute and a faint religious issue were common threads that that ran through some very emotional narrations as the regional minister led a team to urge for calm and peaceful co-existence.
Police sources said 21 persons remained in their custody following their arrests for their involvement in the unrest.
The regional minister and his team also visited the Regional Hospital where persons from both sides who had suffered various degrees of injury, some with severe machete wounds on heads and limbs, were on admission.
Separate meetings
At the separate meetings with the minister and his team, elders of the factions pledge commitment to a peace process, and demanded neutrality from particularly the police force to see a lasting peace among the people.
While a semblance of calm prevailed over the community, most of the homes appeared deserted particularly by the youth in the early hours of yesterday morning as Alhaji Sulemani and members of the Regional Security Council (REGSEC) visited the scenes of the clashes to access the extent of damage to property.
The Regional Minister and his deputy, Dr Mohammed Musheibu Alfa, and members of the REGSEC, spent the morning of yesterday (Tuesday) visiting the scenes of burnt property, which included a house, vehicles and business joints.
Other members of the REGSEC, including the Regional Director of Immigration Service, the Regional Police Commander, the Regional Controller of Prisons, and the Regional Commander of the Fire Service were part of the team that paid separate visits to the two groups of elders of the two factions.
“For now, we are keeping our eyes on the situation, with the security firmly in control to prevent any chances of further clashes. The important thing is that the elders of both sides have expressed open commitment to dialogue and peace, and that is very significant and important,” the regional minister said.
“We are not ending it there, though, because lasting peace is what we want in Wa. This is an otherwise very peaceful region where we use dialogue to settle difference and not machetes and clubs,” he added.
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