RIOTS AT KYEBI...As galamsey youth battle police, soldiers (LEAD STORY, NOV 10, 2010)

Story: Nana Konadu Agyeman, Kyebi

STONE-THROWING illegal miners on Monday engaged armed policemen and soldiers in a confrontation at Kyebi after the security men had seized equipment belonging to the galamsey operators, including excavators and pumping machines.
Numbering about 200, the youth hurled stones and sticks at the six security men after blocking some of the roads in the town.
The military and police personnel responded with warning shots to disperse the mob and managed to exit through an alternate route to the Kyebi Police Station to request for reinforcement.
In the absence of the security men, the rioters were reported to have taken their mining equipment to the forecourt of the Okyenhene’s palace, poured petrol on it and were in the process of setting them ablaze when the military/police reinforcement arrived amidst the firing of warning shots to finally disperse the mob. No arrest was made.
The personalities who came the scene included the Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, the Eastern Regional Police Commander, DCOP Ransford Ninson, the Commanding Officer of the 1st Battalion Infantry, Lt Col Barimah Owusu, and some members of the Regional Security Council (REGSEC).
They held a meeting with some of the chiefs at the Okyenhene’s palace at Kyebi, including the Okyenhemaa, Nana Twumawaa Dokua, during which the regional minister urged the traditional leaders in the Akyem Abuakwa area to cause the arrest of any person who undertook mining in the area and called on the security agencies to go all out in dealing with illegal miners at Kyebi and its environs.
He condemned the violent behaviour exhibited by the galamsey operators towards the security personnel who were discharging their legitimate duty.
“If the law is not allowed to prevail, we all stand a big risk of being the subject of frequent violent attacks by the illegal miners, who now possess sophisticated weapons to defend themselves and their illegal activities,” Mr Ofosu Ampofo stated.
He called on small scale miners to respect the laws of the land, which require them to register with the Minerals Commission, adhere to proper mining regulations and pay taxes to the Commission.
He said small scale mining had triggered the violation of minerals and environmental laws in the country, a situation which, he said, had emboldened the galamsey operators to frequently mine with poisonous chemicals and divert water bodies without any regard to the health implications their actions posed to the public.
“Today, River Birim is at the brink of extinction simply because the mining laws are not being adhered to by these galamsey operators,” he said, pledging that this would not happen under his watch as a regional minister.
He further expressed dismay at the growing acquisition of sophisticated weapons by the galamsey operators to defend their businesses and themselves, citing a case in which angry, armed galamsey operators demonstrated and marched to the palace of the paramount chief of Akyem Bosome, Okotwereaso Oware Agyekum, who is also the vice president of the Eastern Regional House of Chiefs, and made attempts to remove his sandals of authority and slaughter a sheep to signify his destoolment.
He said the chief, who sustained injury at the hands of the mob, was, however, rescued by the timely intervention of the security forces.
Nana Dokua, who represented the Okyenhene, pledged the support of the traditional leaders to the security forces in their effort to get rid of galamsey operations in the Akyem Abuakwa Traditional Area.