https://www.myjoyonline.com/do-not-negotiate-with-secessionists-richard-ahiagba-to-government/-------https://www.myjoyonline.com/do-not-negotiate-with-secessionists-richard-ahiagba-to-government/

The Executive Director of the Danquah Institute (DI), Richard Ahiagba has kicked against calls for government to negotiate with the Volta secessionist group.

His comments come in response to calls on government to consider a meeting with the secessionists whose recent activities in the Volta region have been a cause for national concern.

Although he hopes the situation will be resolved, he does not believe that negotiating with the separatist group is one of the options government should consider.

"There are many ways of resolving this but I don't think negotiating is one of them. The question is: How do you even begin and who do you begin to talk to and what legitimacy do they bring to the table?" he asked.

Some security analysts, including the Director of the Faculty of Academic Affairs & Research at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) have however, asked government to deal amicably with the secessionists.

Professor Kwesi Aning of the KAIPTC is concerned that brutal military action against the groups may further incite the separatist and aggravate their activities in the region.

He, therefore, has advised government to consider round table discussions with the group in order to prevent further disturbances.

Speaking on NewsFile Saturday, Mr Ahiagba insisted that the law makes no room for negotiations on such matters, as such, any compromise by government will only embolden other secessionist groups.

This, he said will threaten the sovereignty of the country.

"When you do that, it's a slide, literally. Any number of people can get up and say that 'we too we want to claim this piece of land and therefore you have to give them out to us in the interest of peace', and that really is not the way," he concluded.

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DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.