Curfew lifted in north more than two years after Dagbon king beheaded

The government has finally lifted a state of emergency and a night-time curfew in the Dagbon region of northern Ghana, two and a half years after the Dagbon King was beheaded and his palace razed to the ground during bloody clashes between rival clans. The government said in a statement on Monday that residents in Tamale, the regional capital, and Yendi, the seat of the Dagbon tribal kingdom 100 km to the east, would no longer be confined to their houses between the hours of 10 pm and 5 am. "Following the improved security situation.... the government has with immediate effect lifted the state of emergency in the Dagbon traditional area," read the statement, signed by Interior Minister Hackman Owusu Agyemang. Dagbon's two clans, the Andani and the Abudu, have been vying for the chieftaincy for more than half a century. Andani and Abudu were the sons of Dagbon king Ya Naa Yakubu I. After his death, the kingship rotated between their descendents. This arrangement worked smoothly until 1948 when a selection committee was established which led to accusations of favouritism and bias. Disputes ensued, with each clan aligning itself with alternate governments as they came to power. But events took a particularly bloody turn in March 2002, when 30 people were killed in a three-day battle and 3,000 others were forced to flee their homes. The Dagbon king, Ya-Na Yakubu Andani II, had his head cut off and his Gbewaa palace -- the focal point of over 600 years of history, tradition and culture in the region -- was reduced to a roofless shell with pockmarked walls. The Andani clan complained that although the palace was just 300 metres from Yendi police station and 500 metres from a military camp, no police officer or soldier came to the scene. As the battle raged, the interior minister went on national and international radio saying the area was calm. He later resigned. Ghanaian President John Kufuor imposed a blanket curfew across the Dagbon district and stepped up security in the area. Little by little, the curfew has been rolled back. However, until this week the hotspots of Tamale and Yendi were still under wraps with armed police patrolling the towns at night. The main opposition party, the National Democratic Congress, welcomed the lifting of the curfew. "It is good as it will enable people to go about their economic activities again," Ludwig Hlodze, a top official in the party's youth movement told IRIN on Tuesday. The curfew had restricted the night-time activity of taxi drivers and women who cook food to sell to travellers by the roadside. The government said security officers would continue to monitor the situation in Tamale, which is Ghana's third largest city, and Yendi. "Any breach of the peace will be drastically dealt with," it warned. Meanwhile mediation continues to find a solution to the long-running dispute between the two clans. In 2002, Kufuor appointed three of Ghana's most important chiefs from the Ashanti, Mamprugu and Gonja regions, to try to find a long-term solution to the Dagbon chieftaincy spat. Political analysts say the crisis is a key test for the government, which has presidential and parliamentary elections to win at the end of this year. The search for a solution to the Dagbon crisis is being closely monitored by numerous other chieftaincies across the West African country that have similar disputes . So far the Dagbon mediation committee has overseen the restoration of some parts of the Gbewaa palace, namely the living quarters of the dead king's 30 or so widows. But the king's body still lies in the mortuary. Tradition dictates that he cannot be buried until the palace has been fully restored. Officials fear his burial could provide another flashpoint. So too could the subsequent process of naming the next Dagbon king.