Konkomba and Nanumba

The Guinea Fowl War

GROUP ONE SOCIAL STUDIES PRESENTAION
GROUP MEMBERS
Kwbena Effah Asuahene
Vernita Naa-Kwarley Quartey
Kwadwo A̶N̶A̶R̶F̶I̶ Opuni Frempong
Keli Obakumah Sedem(KOS)
Steven Randdolf(Stezzy LOC)
 INTRODUCTION
Konkomba–Nanumba conflict (also known as the Guinea fowl war)
was a tribal war in Northern Ghana in 1994. It was fought between
the Konkomba versus the Nanumba, Dagomba and Gonja tribes on
the other side. The basis of the war were tribal claims over land
ownership.

At least 1000 and as many as 2000 people were killed during the
conflict, while 150,000 people were displaced as part of the
dispute.Some of the displaced individuals fled to Togo.The
Rawlings government was able to slow the conflict by imploring
methods that quelled tensions during the fight, eventually leading
to much of the conflict being resolved towards the end of 2015.
CAUSE OF THE CONFLICT
The Konkomba-Nanumba conflict (Guinea fowl war) conflict was sparked on
31 January 1994 in the market of the small town of Nakpayili, near the
Togolese border in up-country Ghana, over the price of a guinea fowl.
Initially, the clash occurred between two men: a Konkomba and a Nanumba.
The two men were engaged in a common, intense Ghanaian pastime –
bargaining. One outbid the other for a black guinea-fowl. Tempers flared
into a brawl. Next day, the man outbid killed his rival, the Nanumba man,
sparking a less common Ghanaian activity: tribal war. The clashes resulted
from longstanding grievances over land ownership and the prerogatives of
chiefs. A military task force restored order, but a state of emergency in the
region remained in force until mid-August 1994.
The basis of the war were tribal claims over land ownership.
EFFECTS OF THE WAR
The hundreds of people who lost their lives
and thousands of them that lost their
valuable possessions and several hundreds
who were rendered homeless constituted a
national catastrophe. A major war strategy of
the combatants involved the destruction of
farmlands of opponents in order to force
them to surrender.
The ‘soft African state’ has proven incapable
of structuring society in a manner to contain
ethnic conflicts once they have occurred. By
the close of 1995, the Guinea Fowl War had
claimed over 1,000-2,000 deaths, 150,000-
230,000 displaced and destruction of over
500 villages.
HOW THE WAR WAS RESOLVED
To restore law and order, the government declared on 10
February 1994 a state of emergency in seven areas of the
Northern Region where the fighting was taking place.

The Konkomba-Nanumba conflict (Guinea fowl war)

appeared to be handled by the Rawlings Government
effectively, and abuses by the armed forces were rarely
reported. His government made several attempts at
peace and reconciliation and as of the end of 1995, the
conflict was well under control if not fully resolved.
Rawlings urged the combatants to work for the
prosperity of the region and country and tried to
convince them that internal conflict would only cause
larger problems in the long run.