GHANA: Tension high as fifth person dies in chieftaincy violence

Tension is high in Anloga District in Ghana's Volta Region after a man died in police custody -- the fifth person to die since 1 November when violence linked to a decade-old chieftaincy dispute rocked the district.

Five days after police exchanged gunfire with a group who reportedly raided a chief-naming ceremony carried out by a rival family, human rights groups say fear pervades in the district, about 150km east of the capital Accra.

Since the death of the last paramount chief 10 years ago two royal families in the area, both of the Anlo ethnic group, have been fighting over who should succeed him.

In the 1 November incident, one group was carrying out ceremonies leading to the nomination of a new paramount chief, known as the 'Awoamefia' in the Ewe language, when over 100 people from the rival clan -- reported to have been armed with AK-47s and clubs -- raided the site. Three died in the gunfire between the group and police; there is a dispute over who opened fire.

The body of a policeman kidnapped during the mayhem was found in a lagoon the following day.

Residents told human rights groups that mass arrests followed in the area. A police official told IRIN that 74 people had been arrested following the clash, seven of whom remain in custody in Ho, the capital of the Volta Region.

It is not yet clear how the 32-year-old detainee died on 5 November while in custody. Police and a lawyer for the detainees told IRIN they are waiting for the results of an autopsy to determine whether the death was linked to police brutality.

The lawyer, Alfred Agbesi, told IRIN many detainees reported being beaten by the police. "They all talk of being beaten, slapped, hit by police officers," he said.

While visiting the detention cell with a member of parliament, he said he saw a policeman kicking a detainee. "We protested and the officer in charge apologised," he said.

Patrick Timbilla, Ghana's director of police operations, confirmed that a man died in police custody but he warned against rushing to conclusions. "It is an unfortunate happening but my caution is don't let us start pointing accusing fingers and laying blame and assigning reasons for his death," Timbilla said.

"We are waiting for the results of a post-mortem on the body and that will help us tell exactly what killed him. I promise that if there is any police complicity in his death no one will be spared. They will face the full rigours of the law.”

But Nana Oyé Lithur, regional coordinator of the Africa office of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), said Ghana has a history of police brutality. "Through police negligence and brutality we're losing lives in Ghana, and [the police] are supposed to be protecting lives," she told IRIN from Accra.

A team from CHRI and the Accra-based Legal Resources Centre conducted a fact-finding mission to the Anloga area on 5 November. "The objective was to find out exactly what happened," Lithur said. "From media reports we were concerned about possible human rights violations."

Lithur said residents told the human rights team that after the chieftaincy clash and ensuing deaths, police terrified residents with house-to-house raids.

"People were scared to talk to us," Lithur told IRIN. "It was very quiet; there were not many young men around," she added, saying that it appeared some people had abandoned their homes.

She said the human rights team was there on market day but that there was little activity in the marketplace. "One woman told us they are scared to go to out to buy food."

A police official in the area would not comment on whether police carried out house-to-house arrests. Alhaji Hamidu, assistant commissioner of police in Volta, told IRIN only that the police had followed "normal police procedures".

Lithur said that at one point during the fact-finding mission, police officers stopped the human rights groups' vehicle, two officers momentarily pointing their guns at the occupants.

Government role

Recent events have raised questions not only about possible police abuses in Ghana but also about the extent to which the government should be allowed to intervene in chieftaincy disputes.

The Ghanaian constitution holds that the government cannot interfere in chieftaincy matters, but following last week's violence Interior Minister Kwamena Bartels said the government "has an overriding responsibility to ensure peace, tranquility, and law and order."

One government official has called for an amendment to the constitution to allow the government to intervene directly in chieftaincy affairs.

The controversial ceremony in Anloga was known about for some time before it was to take place and some observers in Ghana say the government should have done more to prevent the violence.

CHRI's Lithur told IRIN that the authorities must improve intelligence and early warning mechanisms. "We have to look at early warning systems and find out why law and order is breaking down."