There has been a lot of disruption in several countries this week causing various forms of unrest. A few weeks ago, I reported on the sinking of a South Korean warship and the rumours that North Korea was responsible for the attack. This week, these speculations have developed and within a matter of days relations between the two Koreas have returned to the freezer. The diplomatic goal now will be to ensure that a renewed cold war on the Korean peninsula does not generate into a hot conflict. In Ghana, communities have been destabilized and forced to flee. Whilst in Kingston, Jamaica gun battles are taking placing in the streets between the police and civilians which has already resulted in loss of life.
The relationship between the two Koreas is definitely unstable and causing political, military and social unrest. North Korea is to cut all relations with South Korea. The move comes after an international report blamed North Korea for sinking a South Korean warship. North Korean Pyongyang denies it torpedoed the South Korean Cheonan near the inter-Korean maritime border on 26 March, killing 46 sailors. South Korea says it plans to refer North Korea to the UN Security Council, and is seeking a unified international response to the incident. Reports have also announced the severing of all ties - including communications - said the North was also banning South Korean ships and planes from its territorial waters and airspace. North and South Korea are technically still at war after the Korean conflict ended without an armistice in 1953. While there were hopes of reconciliation a few years ago, relations have been deteriorating since then and now appear to be at their lowest point in a decade. Amid the rising tensions, Seoul announced on Sunday it was ending trade relations with the North in response to the sinking of the Cheonan.
South Korea has also said it will drop propaganda leaflets into the North to tell people about the sinking, as well as setting up giant electronic billboards to flash messages. It has resumed propaganda broadcasts to the North, playing radio programmes that will soon be broadcast via border loudspeakers.
Koreans maybe experiencing conflict due to military interference but in Ghana there is ethic instability. Around 3,500 refugees have crossed into northern Togo from Ghana, Togo's security minister says. They are victims of ethnic conflict and land disputes in the northern part of Ghana, he said. The refugees started arriving last week and consist mainly of women, children and young people. Ghanaian refugees fleeing into northern Togo to escape unrest at home have become a regular occurrence in recent years. Temporary shelter camps have been set up in Tandjouare in northern Togo. After visiting the camp, Security Minister Colonel Mohammed Atcha Titikpina said: "We have come in the name of the government of Togo to express our sympathies and solidarity with our [Ghanaian] brothers and sisters."Our immediate task is to find the resources to provide these refugees with emergency relief supplies, security, feeding, clothing and temporary rehabilitation structures." In 1994-95, land disputes in northern Ghana erupted into ethnic violence, resulting in the deaths of 1,000 people and the displacement of a further 150,000.
Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding has vowed to restore order after at least 31 deaths during an anti-drug offensive in Kingston. He said he regretted the loss of life as security forces battled fighters loyal to a suspected drug trafficker sought by the US. Mr Golding said police would continue searching for illegal guns and crime suspects. The whereabouts of alleged drug lord Christopher "Dudus" Coke are unknown. He has thousands of loyal followers who have promised to protect him at any cost. Police say they have detained more than 200 people and seized arms and ammunition. New gun battles raged on Tuesday as police and soldiers searched Kingston's Tivoli Gardens district for Mr Coke. The fighting has intermittently blocked the road to Kingston's airport and forced some flights to be cancelled. Western countries such as the US and Britain have warned their citizens against travel to Kingston and its surrounding area in the current circumstances.
Mr Coke, 41, insists he is a legitimate businessman and enjoys the support of many impoverished Kingston residents who see him as a benefactor. The US justice department accuses him of being one of the world's most dangerous drug barons. Thousands of heavily armed police and soldiers have been making their way through the capital's most violent slums, battling masked gunmen loyal to Mr Coke. Gangs from slums just outside the capital also joined the fight, erecting barricades on roadways and shooting at troops. Mr Coke is said to lead a gang called the Shower Posse - owing to the volume of bullets used in shootings - and operate an international smuggling network. Drugs trade is deeply entrenched in Jamaica, an island nation of 2.8 million people with one of the highest murder rates in the world.
The problem here I believe is propaganda: Dudus is seen by many in Jamaica as a kind of Robin Hood figure, a protector of the poor. Whilst in Korea, each country wants to believe their country is better and more powerful. Everybody blames everyone else and is quick to pull the trigger. Am I the only one to worry about the loss of innocent lives during the showmanship of artillery and armour?
(Written By Fade Ogunro. Published in PM Newspaper on Wed 26th May 2010, page 5)
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