https://www.myjoyonline.com/government-must-engage-western-togoland-secessionists-in-dialogue-security-analyst/-------https://www.myjoyonline.com/government-must-engage-western-togoland-secessionists-in-dialogue-security-analyst/

A security analyst has said it is high time government sits at a table with leaders of secessionists' group demanding independence from Ghana to form an autonomous ‘Western Togoland.’

Col. Festus Aboagye (Rtd) believes an engagement between the two entities is critical in preventing the seeming growth of recalcitrant acts perpetrated in the Volta Region over the past week, from escalating.

The analyst was reacting to a second attack at the hands of the group, which comes days after its first which led to the death of one person and arrest of 31 others last Friday, September 25, 2020.

In Tuesday’s incident, a group of armed men reportedly attacked the State Transport Corporation (STC) in Ho, the Volta Regional capital at about 2 am.

Speaking on News Desk on JoyNews, Col Abogye (Rtd) said, the opening up of communication channels to accommodate the concerns of both parties must not be ruled out.

“Negotiation and mediation do not only seek to find solutions. Sometimes, it’s for purposes of communications...We need to find out the legitimacy of their struggle and who they represent. They also need to understand us as Ghana,” he told host, Bernice Abu-Baidoo Lansah on Tuesday.

According to him, this approach of dialogues has worked for many countries on the African confinement where confusions as such broke out, and those not see why it will not be effective in Ghana’s case.

He wants this measure to be adopted alongside the deployment of security logistics and use of intelligence to foil any impending attacks.

“But it doesn’t mean when you’re talking, you stop short in deploying your military tools. So we must combine all of these,” Col Aboagye added.

Government, through the Information Minister, has condemned the recent development by the persons believed to members of the Homeland Study Group Foundation (HSGF).

But the security analyst wants all these strategies coordinated and spelt out by the President at a national level to bolster the confidence of the citizenry.

"It is not sufficient to over the last few days, have the Information Minister talking, Regional Minister talking, a police superintendent talking and you don't get the national strategy and it's not authoritative enough."

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