Crackdown intensified against 'rebels' in Chereponi/Saboba

Some of the houses torched in the renewed clashes[/caption] Information gathered by 3news.com indicates that the Chereponi and Saboba districts are gradually becoming a den for lawbreakers due to the incessant defiance of the dusk-to-dawn curfew. As a result, military officers dispatched to man the areas have been advised to treat everyone they find with offensive weapons as a rebel, a source says. This also follows series of discussions among security heads owing to the five-day siege in communities in the two districts. Meanwhile, a reprisal attack by the Chokosis Friday morning saw two Konkomba communities, namely Nanchem and Tambong, torched as residents fled to neighbouring Togo. This was after the Chokosis burnt down the Shidoto, Tigenga, and Kunajiku communities at about 4:15am Friday. An eyewitness said “at midday during Jummah Prayers when Chokosis were in the mosque, Konkombas started attacking Chokosis from the Saboba side again. Few minutes later I heard the Chokosis also moved from Wenchiki side to Terkasu side to face them”. He added that a bullet from the ammunition of a military hit one Chokosi man in the process of providing protection and killed him instantly. “So they had to move security from the Wenchiki side to Terkasu side to face them again and that was where a Chokosi man by name MUSLIMI was hit by a bullet from a military man”. Again, hours after the reprisal attacks, “another Konkomba group massed up around 7 pm within the curfew time and advanced towards Nansoni community, burnt down Nandire community which is 3km away from Chereponi”. 3news.com can confirm the arrival of military officers from the Ashanti Region. The officers were airlifted from the Airforce Base in Tamale at about 5:40am on Saturday to the two districts. At least, a dozen has died in the five days of the siege. Calm has, however, since returned to the areas as security patrols intensify. Those fleeing Chereponi have been advised not to due to the beefed up security in the district. Some residents in Chereponi have also bemoaned what they term “partial enforcement of the curfew”. “We have our relatives in Saboba and they tell us they are not under any curfew, and we believe it’s the reason the Konkombas continue to attack the Chokosis because there’s no force holding them,” a amn told 3news.com. They want the security heads to enforce the 4:00pm to 7:00am curfew per the release by the Minister of Interior Mr Ambros Dery on January 3,2019. By Zubaida Ismail|3news.com|Ghana]]>