Perceptions and Attitudes of the Local Community towards the Dagbon Conflict Management in Northern Ghana

Abstract

The existence of ethnic conflicts dates back hundreds of years. Indeed most of these ethnic conflicts are characterized by lot of bloodshed and Dagban ethnic conflict in northern Ghana is no exception. The principle of conflicts management recognizes the threat of conflicts to socio-economic development. For this reason, conflict resolution is key and its success is very much dependent on the attitudes of the parties involved. The broad aim of this study was to assess the perceptions of the Local Community towards the Dagbon conflict management since 2002. In view of this, a social survey with a sample size of 212 males and females comprising 200 community members, 6 traditional leaders and 6 members of the Regional Security Council (REGSEC) was selected for the study. Structured and in-depth interview was used .The study revealed that social relationships between Abudus and Andanis were very bad, serious security implications still persisted, the two royal families had damaging negative perceptions about each other, and serious human rights abuses in relation to the conflict abound in Dagbon still prevails. It was also revealed that the conflict remained unresolved because of the entrenched positions taken by both parties. Politicians should be decorous in dealing chieftaincy matters as well as the Dagbon conflict. Government should also exercise strong political will by taking bold steps to identify and deal with the perpetrators of the Yendi incident to serve as deterrence for other. These among others would pave the way for a peaceful resolution of the conflict.