Intensive military intelligence work, backed by troops doing house-to-house searches, has led to the discovery of four pump action guns and the police accoutrements taken from the Aveyime Police Station by miscreants who invaded the place on Friday night, as part of the agenda to cause confusion in the country. The weapons and the accoutrements were retrieved from a village near Aveyime.
A highly placed security source, who disclosed this to The Chronicle, said the security agencies had also retrieved two pick-up vehicles which were driven away from the South Tongu District Assembly by the miscreants, who were parading as members of the Western Togoland Restoration Front (WTRF).
The Chronicle’s own intelligence picked up signals that ten assault rifles were taken away from the armoury of the Aveyime police and are yet to be retrieved.
The Chronicle has also discovered that these criminals, who delimited boundaries and took occupancy of part of Ghanaian land territory for some hours last Friday, belong to a separate secessionist faction other than the Homeland Study Group Foundation.
Judging by the different flags, symbol of identity, and loyalty that appeared at the various scenes in the heat of the illegal occupation, though short-lived, coupled with reports from the Homeland Study Group Foundation dissociating itself from the disturbances in the Tongu enclave of the Volta Region,was enough to predict a herculean task for the nation.
Previously, the only known group agitating for independence from Ghana was the Homeland Study Group Foundation, but now that perception is very elusive.
The attacks on the Mepe and Aveyime Police stations, and various roadblocks on the Accra -Ho and Accra-Aflao highways amongst others, are enough warnings that the groups have tactically planned the onslaughts.
At least, ten AK-47 assault rifles were stolen when the dissidents broke into the Aveyime Police Station armoury. This was after they had subdued the night duty personnel, made up of a Station Orderly (SO) and Counter Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO), who were stripped to their underwear.
The gunmen forced open the cells and freed the inmates, who they replaced with the subdued men on duty and locked them up. A police patrol pickup andtwo pickups belonging to the North Tongu Assembly were taken away.
The District Police Commander was disarmed of his sidearm, as he and his driver were shot and had to be rushed to the Police Hospital in Accra.
Their activities in the Tongu area in the early hours of Friday reached Accra late. However, the Naval Training Command (NAVTRAC) at Agorta, near Sogakope, was tasked to bring the insurgency under control, which was done with precision, but not without the exchange of fire.
The roadblocks, amidst burning of lorry tyres, resulted in no vehicular movements for hours on the affected roads.The gunmen used the seized police patrol vehicle for their activities, patrolling the towns and blurring sirens to signify victory over Ghana.
They subsequently issued orders to the police personnel to move out of their ‘captured’ land, Western Togoland.
Attempts to takeover the Kpong Generation Station on the River Volta was foiled by heavily armed soldiers and police, drawn from the headquarters of the Counter Terrorism Unit (CTU), backed by some units from Akosombo, Koforidua and Accra.
The security personnel removed the road blocks from Juapong and elsewhere, and pursued the insurgents, who, as expected, adopted an underground approach.
There were reports of a base-like camp in very inaccessible terrain somewhere in the general areas of Adidome, Mepe and Tademe.
In such insurgencies, information flow on the supposed spiritually fortified base is not fluid, giving room for only speculation.
There were casualties, whilst others got wounded, which records the morgue and emergency centers can best tell.
As to why the state security set-up did not get the slightest hint is another puzzle.
Professor KwesiEnin of the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Center(KAIPTC) described the action on Friday as the single most successful military attack by a secessionist group in the history of West Africa and south of the Sahara.
He blamed it on monumental security failure, since the roadblocks didn’t occur by sudden flight, but took some time.He bemoaned the run-over of the two police stations at Aveyime and Mepe, and the taking away of rifles and valuable documents.
Colonel Festus Aboagye (Rtd), also of the KAIPTC, with rich experience in warfare and conflicts management across the world, wanted immediate an approach that would de-escalate the situation.
He reiterated his earlier suggestion for the government to be proactive in these circumstances to avoid the current firefighting approach, as reported by The Chronicle about a fortnight ago.
According to the security expert, the separatists have delimited a boundary into Ghana. He noted that areas which came under attack by the armed group did not form part of the then Trans Volta Togoland. To him, the insurgents are living among the population in the area.
He expected the intelligence agencies to step up their game to see if the Homeland Study Group Foundation has metamorphosed into another element unknown, and contain them as such.
The President of the National House of Chiefs, who is also the Agbogbomefia of Asogli State, Togbe Afede XIV, at the emergency meeting of the house in Kumasi, appealed to all to support government in its effort to clampdown on the criminal elements for peace to prevail.
Sammy Gyamfi, Communications Director of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), speaking on Joy FM’s News File programme on Saturday, called for an independent probe into the circumstances leading to the humiliation of the entire state.
According to him, there must be some form of complicity, which definitely should come out for the world to know.
The Deputy Minister of Local Government, O.B. Amoah, who was also on the same Joy FM programme, appealed for calm as the security agencies had brought the situation under control.
The Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the separatist group (Homeland Foundation), in on-air interview, condemned the attack and distanced his group from any violent approach to their cause.
By Moses Kwesi Dautey
The post Fighting Western Togoland secessionists; Soldiers Retrieve 4 Guns & Police Accoutrements; but 10 AK assault rifles still missing appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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