Member of Parliament for Bawku Central, Mahama Ayariga, has called on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration to help rescue some seven (7) Ghanaians who are residents of the communities of Bador and Tampizua in Bawku Municipality who have been arrested by the military authorities in Burkina Faso.In a letter to the Foreign Affairs Ministry dated October 30, he noted that efforts to locate them have proven futile.

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The identities of the said arrested Bawku residents are as follows: Abdulai Bagare, Mumuni Seidu, Issaka Nyikabo, Abdu_Kadir Salifu, Jebrilu Braimah, Bande Mamudu, and Bande Shaibu.These individuals, he said, crossed over into Burkina Faso on Friday, October 13, 2023, to Bittou District in Burkina Faso with the assistance of the Assembly Member for Kanyere a suburb of Mogande also in Bittu District in Burkina Faso, Adamah Bidigah.

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Background of how the individuals were arrested per Mr Mahama Ayariga’s letterFulani herdsmen grazed cattle belonging to the missing persons in a village called Kanyere in the Bittu District on the Burkina Faso side of the border between Bawku in Ghana and Burkina Faso. Military men came to the area and fired warning shots and the Fulani men run away and left the cattle. Two Fulani men are reported to have died in the incident.

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The Burkina Faso military drove the cattle to Bittu District capital (Bittu).Subsequently, announcements were made that the owners of the cattle should come and identify them so they will hand the cattle back to them. The Assembly Man for Kanyere, Adamah Bidigah, conveyed the message of the announcement across to the Ghana side.

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The missing persons took a letter of introduction from the Municipal Chief Executive of Bawku Municipality and took along to Bittu to claim the animals.The Assembly Member for Kanyere directed them to the location of the animals. The location was identified as Nohow, a village also in the Bittu District.The missing persons set off to the said location with the aim of identifying their cattle for retrieval.

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They were last seen standing with Burkina Faso military personnel on the road to Noaho village. Other claimants of cattle headed to Noaho have said they saw them standing with the Burkina Faso military personnel under circumstances that appeared as if they were being interrogated by the military personnel but everyone was afraid to interfere so they all passed them by.

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According to Mr Ayariga, he has asked senior Ghanaian military personnel to look into the matter but all efforts have yielded no results. “I have tried using former Burkina Faso Members of Parliament in the ECOWAS Parliament where I served with them and there has not been any positive results.

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“I therefore request the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to activate the diplomatic channels with the military authorities in Burkina Faso to locate and return the missing persons,” the letter added.

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