ABSTRACT
The study examined the relationship between conflict and migration. Specifically, the factors that influence a person‟s decision to either stay or migrate during the conflict were the focus of this study. The study also analyzed the challenges and opportunities encountered by victims of the conflict and the reasons for their return to Bimbilla. Using both qualitative and quantitative research techniques, a total of 226 questionnaires were administered to persons who fled during the violence and have returned to Bimbilla, and persons who stayed during the violence. The study found that target attacks/killing, deteriorated economic activities as a result of the conflict, fear of gunshots and bullets were the main reasons for migrating. People stayed in the midst of the conflict even though circumstances of the conflict suggested they migrate. Uncertainty about challenges at destinations, the perception of not belonging to any of the conflicting factions, familial reasons such as large family size, aged relatives, and marriage were the main factors that prevented people from migrating during the conflict. The findings also suggested that interventions by the government were aimed at restoring peace without taking into account the basic needs of the affected victims. The study demonstrated that regardless of whether a person migrates and returns to post-conflict areas or stayed during a conflict, all face challenges such as economic, accommodation, and psychological trauma. Based on the findings of the study, peace campaign should be promoted in the community. It is recommended that interventions should aim at providing basic needs such as food and accommodation to victims of the conflict. Also, the government should establish a permanent security post consisting of both military and police to ensure that lives and properties are protected.
CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION
- Background of the study
Communities have experienced conflicts from time immemorial. The definition of conflict varies among scholars. Pia and Diez (2007:2) define conflict as the struggle or contest over ideas, beliefs, needs, goals, and values between people. Mayer (2012:2) sees conflict as “… a feeling, a disagreement, a real or perceived incompatibility of interests, a product of inconsistent worldviews or a set of behaviors.” Geopolitical and resource competition, economic inequalities, discrimination against minorities based on language, race, religion, and post-election violence tend to precipitate conflict in communities (Wegenast & Schneider, 2017; Hoffman 2016; Brown & Stewart, 2015; Elfversson and Brosche, 2012). Conflicts usually slow economic growth and development and also affect the stability and security of communities.
People are usually the casualties when conflict erupts. These people are usually categorized into combatants and non-combatants. The combatants are largely the youth (Ebata et al., 2005) and able-bodied whose main aim is to accomplish a peculiar goal. They adopt various strategies for achieving their goals. Some of the strategies – such as rape and sexual abuse of women and children, recruitment of child soldiers, arson, death threats and target killing of civilians – employed by these combatants during conflicts have the tendency of violating the fundamental rights of people. According to Hoffman (2016), there have been tremendous increases in fatalities among civilians compared with military combatants in a conflict in the past 25 years. It is indicated that a little over 25,000 deaths as a result of conflicts recorded in 2011 increased to approximately 70,000 deaths in 2013 (Hoffman, 2016). Usually the vulnerable population, most especially, children, women, the sick, aged and disabled are the affected group.
As a result of human rights violation and lack of physical security and safety, civilians in conflict situations adopt different mechanisms for survival. Migration tends to be one of the mechanisms used by people during conflict. Since there is migrant selectivity based on age, gender, marital status, level of education and income (Dustmann & Gorlach, 2015; Harris & Todaro, 1970), it is not everyone who desires to move even during a conflict that has the opportunity to do so. Those who have the means and capabilities usually migrate to neighboring communities and countries sometimes to join friends and kinsmen. Due to the haste and unprepared nature under which they migrate, they usually encounter numerous challenges such as hunger, diseases, injuries, traumatic stress and privation (Downes and Cochran, 2010). Some end up in uncongenial conditions at the destination.
Furthermore, victims of conflicts are also likely to face animosity from indigenes in the destination. They are sometimes denied access to basic services such as jobs, health, and education most likely when the movement involves crossing international borders. It is observed that the migrations of the affluent during conflict are usually well organized with little or no challenge at all since they are able to fund their movement (Shakur, Mehanna and Hopkins, 2005). The affluent migrate to their preferred destination mostly the cities where conflict has not occurred.
On the other hand, those who are unable to migrate during conflicts are usually displaced internally. Coupled with the likelihood of encountering constant attacks from combatants, internally displaced persons are also prone to deprivation, post-traumatic stress, diseases, and starvation. Certainly, conflicts have produced forced migrants such as refugees, asylum seekers, and internally displaced persons. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reported that at the end of 2016, a total of 65.6 million people were forcibly displaced worldwide due to
conflict-related issues including persecution, violence and human right violation (UNHCR, 2017). The Report further reveals that among the top ten major sources of refugees, two sub- Saharan African countries South Sudan and Somalia which have all been engulfed with Civil War produced over 2.4 million refugees by the end of 2016 (UNHCR, 2017). Most of these people normally move to neighboring countries.
Since the early 1990s, Ghana has become a destination for victims of conflict from neighboring countries especially Cote d‟Ivoire, Togo, Liberia, Central African Republic, and Sudan. This is attributed to relative peace the country has experienced in the past decades. A 2017 Report by Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) on Global Peace Index reveals that out of 163 countries used for a survey, Ghana is ranked 43rd as the most peaceful country in the world. However, some parts of the country still experience sporadic communal conflicts. Several studies conducted in Ghana reveal that the most prevalent form of conflict that characterizes the country is communal conflicts (Debrah, Alidu and Owusu-Mensah 2016; Asamoah, 2014; Jonsson, 2009). Notably, communal conflicts in Ghana include Konkomba and Gonja, Nkonya and Alavanyo, Peki and Tsito, Effiduase and Asokore, and Kusasi and Mamprusi (Osei, 2010; Pul, 2015; Tsikata and Seini, 2004).
Bimbilla is one of the communities in the Northern part of Ghana that has been experiencing sporadic communal conflict in the past decades (Tonah and Anamzoya, 2016). The community comprises several ethnic groups such as Nanumba, Konkomba, Dagomba, Basare, Chamba, and Kotokoli. Several studies have been conducted to understand the various dimensions of the Bimbilla intra-ethnic conflict such as the causes, its effects on the livelihood of the people and development (Anamzoya, 2014; Anamzoya and Tonah, 2012; Anamzoya, 2010). Although the triggers of violent clashes between the various factions vary within time, it is widely
acknowledged that the root cause of the conflict hinges on competition over chieftaincy (Anamzoya, 2014; Field reports). The chieftaincy title of Bimbilla has been rotational among the Bangyili and Gbugmayili gates1 (Anamzoya, 2010:51). However, this chieftaincy conflict has been in existence between two royal members and their respective supporters within the same Gbugmayili gate. Considering the sensitive nature of the conflict, any small disagreements between these factions if not well managed usually led to violent clashes with dire consequences.
There have been a series of violent clashes in Bimbilla. The first outbreak of violent clashes was reported in 1994 between Konkomba and Nanumba (Bogner, 2000). Subsequently, violent clashes also erupted in the early 2000s in Bimbilla between the Bangyili and the Gbugmayili gates. Following the murder of Naa Dasana Andani in 2013, Bimbilla was plunged into another turmoil for which curfew was imposed on the town (Daily Graphic, February 11, 2017). Furthermore, there have been recent outbreaks of violence in Bimbilla which have recorded about ten deaths which consist of children, women, and men aged between four and eighty-five years (Samuel, 2017).
The effects of these clashes are alarming. Apart from retarding development in Bimbila, there have been reports of target killing, destruction of properties such as houses and farms sometimes through arson. These tend to increase poverty and economic hardship on the populace. Consequently, people tend to migrate to neighboring communities and regions. This study, therefore, is undertaken to highlight how ethnic conflicts shape the migration decision-making processes–the preferred destination of the victims during the rise of the conflict, the challenges and opportunities they encounter as migrants in the destination, the forms of migration and the factors that have influenced their decision to return to Bimbila.
