3 herdsmen killed in Sekyere Afram Plains

Three herdsmen were killed in renewed communal clashes between herdsmen and farmers in Sekyere Afram Plains of the Ashanti Region, last week.

The two separate attacks on cattle-herders have also left several cattle dead, at Samso, near Drobonso in the district.

Consequently, police have launched a search for a fourth herdsman and hundreds of cattle that have gone missing following the attack, which followed the murder of a securityman of a local plantation firm earlier this month.

However, some two herdsmen, who had earlier been declared missing, have been found, and the whereabouts of a third herdsman was still unknown.

The Effiduase Divisional Commander, ACP Philip Asante, who confirmed the death of three men, said two of the deaths were recorded on Thursday morning after unidentified gunmen attacked the herdsmen and their cattle at a camp in the bushes of Samso, killing two on the spot.

“We have information that another Fulani man [herdsman] has also been killed so we went to the ground and saw that the Fulani guy was killed — shot in the chest.

“We conducted a post-mortem and buried them because their bodies were almost decomposing. Yesterday [Friday] we had information that the Fulani man who was killed was moving with his cow so people have started picking the cows to Agogo and selling them. So we dispatched men there to see the situation at hand and they reported that it wasn’t a cow as it was reported but rather it was two men who have been shot dead. They were sent to the Agogo Hospital morgue,” ACP Asante said.

Police have called for support from the general public as it launches a search for the fourth herdsman who has gone missing.

Samso, Mossi Panin, Mpatanjo, and other areas in the district, have all had their share of the destruction of farms by cattle belonging to the herdsmen. The news team visited several hectares of beans and maize farms destroyed by cattle.

But the Unit Committee Chairman for Samso, Abdul Rahmani Ibrahim, suspects the attackers who wielded guns are not members of the Samso community.

According to him, Thursday’s sporadic gunshots in the bushes follow another one recorded a week earlier.

Meanwhile, the Fulani community in the region has described the attacks as unfortunate.

Osman Bin Ahmed, chief of the Fulani community in the Ashanti Region, said he was unhappy at the loss of lives despite several sensitisation efforts to ensure local farmers cohabit with the herdsmen.

He appealed to the authorities to release land for the construction of satellite ranches, to bring the situation under control.

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