Ghana: War and Ethnic Strife
Will Fitzgerald
World History- Hjelmgren
5/21/09
Mini Paper #2
A crisp cool morning in Ghana, you wake up, open your eyes and face the day. But as you are cooking breakfast you hear gunshots, and the sounds of trucks roaring upon your village. This is the life of the various tribal natives in the land of Ghana. The brutal ethnic strife upon Ghana has cost thousands of lives since 1990 when the quest to overthrow dictators and install democracy began. “We’ve had troubles before, but never anything on this scale, the brutal killings of women and children, the destruction of villages, the devastation of crops” (Faul 1). Ghana's current ethnic strife has caused lots of innocent peoples' lives.
As of 1990 life in Ghana wasn’t the best but then again it wasn’t the worst. The conflict in Ghana is unfolding in the homeland of the father of the pan-Africanist movement, Kwame Nkrumah. Ghana’s First President, he dreamed and preached of molding a continental brotherhood superseding borders and ethnic, religious and language differences (Faul 1).
Dating back to Ghana’s colonial days this issue would not be around because of constant British rule. Now that Ghana is an independent country the rebel groups are starting to be less precautious on when and how often their attacks take place. The targets now consist of various tribal villages or other small villages (Monroe 2).
The issue became of notice in 1994 when an outbreak of 1,000 people was recorded dead after an attack in a small village outside of Tamale, Ghana. “The Konkomba attacked en masse. Group Capt. George Ayeetey told relief agencies that 256 towns and villages had been destroyed, belonging mostly to the Dagomba, Nanumba and Gonja people, before the military intervened (Faul 2). These attacks continue and top the refugee count off at 100,000 people.
Today in Ghana most people would think of a land that has prospered in many ways from gaining its independence, producing tons of gold, and developing into a country that is world-wide known. But it isn’t all good. From tons of raids to refugees, starvation, and issues like ethnic strife have caused Ghana to become very corrupt. The government is having a very rough time keeping all the various rebel groups under control. If issues like these continue Ghana is going to have to turn to someone else before thing become out of control.
Faul, Michell. "Business | Ethnic Strife Racks Ghana -- 1,000 Dead This Month After Brutal Attacks On Towns And Villages | Seattle Times Newspaper." Community.seattletimes.nwsource.com. 19 May 2009 <http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19940227&slug=1897420>.
I used this source to gain evidence on when and how my topic got started.
"Ghana: Government censors reporting on ethnic strife - Committee to Protect Journalists." Press Freedom Online - Committee to Protect Journalists. 19 May 2009 <http://cpj.org/2002/04/ghana-government-censors-reporting-on-ethnic-strif.php>.
I used this source to gain a little bit more of an understanding of my topic and it had some pretty useful information.
World History- Hjelmgren
5/21/09
Mini Paper #2
A crisp cool morning in Ghana, you wake up, open your eyes and face the day. But as you are cooking breakfast you hear gunshots, and the sounds of trucks roaring upon your village. This is the life of the various tribal natives in the land of Ghana. The brutal ethnic strife upon Ghana has cost thousands of lives since 1990 when the quest to overthrow dictators and install democracy began. “We’ve had troubles before, but never anything on this scale, the brutal killings of women and children, the destruction of villages, the devastation of crops” (Faul 1). Ghana's current ethnic strife has caused lots of innocent peoples' lives.
As of 1990 life in Ghana wasn’t the best but then again it wasn’t the worst. The conflict in Ghana is unfolding in the homeland of the father of the pan-Africanist movement, Kwame Nkrumah. Ghana’s First President, he dreamed and preached of molding a continental brotherhood superseding borders and ethnic, religious and language differences (Faul 1).
Dating back to Ghana’s colonial days this issue would not be around because of constant British rule. Now that Ghana is an independent country the rebel groups are starting to be less precautious on when and how often their attacks take place. The targets now consist of various tribal villages or other small villages (Monroe 2).
The issue became of notice in 1994 when an outbreak of 1,000 people was recorded dead after an attack in a small village outside of Tamale, Ghana. “The Konkomba attacked en masse. Group Capt. George Ayeetey told relief agencies that 256 towns and villages had been destroyed, belonging mostly to the Dagomba, Nanumba and Gonja people, before the military intervened (Faul 2). These attacks continue and top the refugee count off at 100,000 people.
Today in Ghana most people would think of a land that has prospered in many ways from gaining its independence, producing tons of gold, and developing into a country that is world-wide known. But it isn’t all good. From tons of raids to refugees, starvation, and issues like ethnic strife have caused Ghana to become very corrupt. The government is having a very rough time keeping all the various rebel groups under control. If issues like these continue Ghana is going to have to turn to someone else before thing become out of control.
Faul, Michell. "Business | Ethnic Strife Racks Ghana -- 1,000 Dead This Month After Brutal Attacks On Towns And Villages | Seattle Times Newspaper." Community.seattletimes.nwsource.com. 19 May 2009 <http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19940227&slug=1897420>.
I used this source to gain evidence on when and how my topic got started.
"Ghana: Government censors reporting on ethnic strife - Committee to Protect Journalists." Press Freedom Online - Committee to Protect Journalists. 19 May 2009 <http://cpj.org/2002/04/ghana-government-censors-reporting-on-ethnic-strif.php>.
I used this source to gain a little bit more of an understanding of my topic and it had some pretty useful information.
