Hundreds of nomadic herders from the Kopella and Zeogo communities in the Bawku West District of the Upper East Region have escaped their homes to avoid the wrath of some enraged locals from the two communities.
As of Wednesday night, nearly every home and immovable property belonging to these herders and their families had been destroyed by fire. Many of their livestock have also migrated to safer locations without anyone's supervision or care. Following the assaults on the herders, some natives in the two communities who had their livestock with the herders are calculating their losses.
According to a Daily Guide source in Zebilla, the burning of the homes of the herdsmen, particularly the Fulanis, was a response by enraged locals to an assault on a 23-year-old pregnant woman from Zeogo by a man at dawn, when she entered a forest to gather shea nuts.
According to reports, the man met the woman in the forest, confronted her, and demanded sex; when she refused, he drew out a cutlass, stabbed her multiple times to force her to submit, and then raped her in the forest.
Even though the victim does not know the rapist, her description of him and the fact that he was in the forest at dawn led some locals to suspect that he was a Fulani herdsman; consequently, they decided to attack every Fulani.
At the time this report was filed on Thursday, June 1, 2023, a large number of Fulanis had fled to the Bolgatanga Municipality, while others remained in Zebilla, the capital of the Bawku West District. Fulanis who fled dangers in Burkina Faso to the Bawku West District were forced to return to Burkina Faso to confront whatever awaited them.
In addition to the Fulani residences that were torched in the Kopella and Zeogo communities, Fulanis who reside in Binaba, far from the incident, were also attacked by enraged youths at the Binaba market.
The police officers who were dispatched to the Binaba market to prevent the youth from attacking the Fulanis at Binaba were met with vehement opposition and then assaulted by a group of enraged youth.
In the meantime, it has been reported that the woman is responding to treatment at the Zebilla District Hospital, but nothing has been said about her pregnancy.
Since then, the newly elected Zebilla Constituency Parliamentary Candidate for the National Democratic Congress, Ebenezer Ndebilla Alumire, has sent a delegation to visit the woman and made a monetary donation to help settle her debts.