By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay
One person has been killed and six more injured in a land dispute between Sawulia and Longo villages in the Southern district of Pujehun, Police in the district have confirmed to Politico.
The incident happened on Saturday afternoon after youths in Sawulia were returning home from clearing the bush on a bridge that connects both villages.
The Office of National Security representative in the district, Usman Andrew Fornah, told Politico: “They were done clearing the bush and were on their way home when they were attacked by men from the bush. They attacked them, some of them were chopped. They reached their village (Sawulia) and complained and some wanted to retaliate but they were restrained. They later complained to the police.”
Fornah said they only got the information on Sunday that an Arabic teacher whose boat was been destroyed by the incident had also gone missing.
The teacher who has now been identified as Sondufu by authorities on the ground was found dead on Monday. Sources said he’d gone missing since 11am on Saturday.
“A team of Police officers are going out now as I speak to search for him and make more arrests. The investigation has already started,” Forna told Politico on Sunday.
A leading civil society activist in the district, Ibrahim Swarray condemned the violence and called for a swift investigation.
“We are also helping the Police and the DISEC to give our own support regarding any information that happened yesterday in that community,” Swaray said on Sunday.
The two villages which are part of Kpanga Chiefdom have had a land dispute since 2010 with both villages laying claim to a river that divides them.
Tensions have heightened intermittently over the years leading to sporadic incidents of violence.
During the general elections in 2018 the people of Longu were told to vote in Sawula, much to the dismay of Sawula people. Police had to make some huge deployment in both villages for the election to go on peacefully.
Following Saturday’s violence, the district security committee had to be called in for an emergency meeting on Sunday regarding the situation.
Local Unit Commander in the area, Paul Banister, confirmed to Politico on Monday that after a search operation for the last two days, they had discovered the corpse of Sondufu and have sent it to the mortuary for examination.
Politico also understands that by Sunday arrests had already been made, but LUC Banister couldn’t confirm at the time how many people had been arrested.
“I need to send the details for my supervisors before I say any further,” he said on a telephone interview.
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