Joseph Nii Laryea Afotey-Agbo, Volta Regional Minister is sponsoring a joint Alavanyo and Nkonya Youth yuletide feast as part of peace building efforts in the area.
He therefore on Christmas eve presented a bull, bags of rice, cooking condiments and GH� 400.00 to representatives of the two groups in Ho.
In the package were two sets of jerseys and footballs, as training kits for a joint Nkonya/Alavanyo football team to be christened Alansko United.
Mr Afotey-Agbo said the team should build camaraderie among the two sides; who were locked in about a century old dispute over a parcel of land, which sometimes degenerated into skirmishes resulting in deaths.
He said he believed the football team could build and strengthen bonds between the two sides, in many cases related by several inter-marriages.
The Regional Minister hinted that curfew imposed on the area as s result of the last skirmishes could be relaxed soon, as indication was that peace had returned and was consolidating.
Nanai Ampem-Darkoh III, Ankobeahene of Nkonya led the Nkonya team while Wisdom Amlado, Youth Leader of Alavanyo led the Alavanyo side.
Nanai Ampem-Darkoh said the triggers for the sporadic skirmishes between the two sides might not necessarily be the land issue but activities of armed illegal loggers in the bushes there.
He said there still existed, warmth and cordiality among peoples of the two sides and added that, �we are family.�
Mr Amlado citing the warmth with which a group from Alavanyo was received in Nkonya recently, appealed to the Minister to facilitate the easing of the dawn to dusk curfew in the area.
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