Accra, Ghana
Saturday, September 6, 2025

Intercommunal clashes in northern Ghana have left at least 31 people dead and displaced nearly 50,000 since the end of August, government officials said Thursday.
The National Disaster Management Agency said that around 48,000 people, mostly women and children, had been forced to leave their homes due to the violence, which originated from a land dispute.
“However, for the past five days, we have had no gunfire, no killings and no attacks,” said Zakaria Mahama, the agency’s regional director, adding that the displaced had already begun to return home.
According to Interior Minister Mubarak Muntaka, speaking on local radio, 31 people were killed and 13,253 Ghanaians fled to neighboring Ivory Coast.
When questioned, an Ivorian official confirmed this figure. Philippe Hien, president of the Bounkani regional council, reported their arrival “in 17 villages” near the border, in an Ivorian region that already hosts nearly 30,000 refugees from Burkina Faso.
The violence began on August 24 in the village of Gbiniyiri (Savanes region), near the Ivorian border, over a land dispute involving a dozen local communities.

The conflict began when a local chief sold land to a private developer without the consent of the community concerned.

When the developer attempted to access the land to begin work, the local population resisted violently, even setting fire to the palace of the chief who had initiated the sale.
According to Minister Muntaka, more than 700 soldiers and police officers have been deployed in recent days and a curfew has been imposed.
A regional official in Savanes, Salisu Bi-Awuribe, said that calm was gradually returning, with traditional leaders and community elders working with security agencies to prevent further clashes.
Authorities fear food shortages after families abandoned their farms and livestock in their exodus. An investigative committee has been set up to examine the causes of the violence and work towards reconciliation.
Inter-community conflicts over land and disputes involving local chiefdoms are recurrent in northern Ghana, although displacements on such a scale are rare.

Humaniterre with AFP