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. -News for Wed 27 March and 28 March 2002

The following news clips have been taken from the BBC news coverage. Contact the BBC website for more details and more news as well as background material.


MapPolice in Ghana say more than 50 people are now believed to have died in ethnic clashes in the north of the country. The regional council in Bawku imposed a night curfew after violent disturbances over the weekend involving members of two tribes - the Kusasis and Mamprusis - and a dawn-to-dusk curfew is now in force.

KuforPolice say the situation is now under control. Up to 150 people were wounded, buildings and cars were burnt and hundreds fled their homes in the clashes. A police officer told AFP news agency that the death toll could be even higher as many of the local Muslims will bury their dead immediately, making it harder to verify casualty figures. Fleeing clashes Ghana's interior minister told parliament that the clashes began after an argument between two young people. One burnt the kiosk of the other and then there was retaliation.

RawlingsThe Associated Press reported that some Bawku residents fled to the regional capital of Bolgatanga, 85 kilometres (50 miles) away, to escape the fighting. There is a history of armed violence between the two tribes. At least 30 people were killed in clashes between them last year. The Mamprusi tend to favour President John Kufuor and his New Patriotic Party. The Kusasi generally support the National Democratic Congress, the party of former President Jerry Rawlings. There was violence during last year's elections.


VeniceAmerican citizens could be targeted by extremist groups in Italian cities over Easter, the US State Department has warned. The US did not identify the groups or nature of the attacks, but said the cities at risk were Florence, Venice, Verona and Milan.


GhanaA curfew has been imposed and a state of emergency declared in parts of northern Ghana after violent clashes between two rival clans. More than 30 people died after fighting between the Abudus and the Andanis in the town of Yendi, about 500 kilometres (300 miles) north of the capital Accra.

There were reports that King Ya-Na Yakubu Andani of the Dagombas - the largest ethnic group in northern Ghana - had been beheaded. But the king's personal lawyer, Alaji Ibrahim Mahama, has told the BBC that the king is not dead, although he would not disclose his whereabouts. Mr Mahama said that it was one of the king's chief warriors who had been decapitated.

Long-running dispute

Yendi has been the scene of clashes in recent days between the Abudus and the Andanis, who share the leadership of the Dagombas. The attackers are reported to be members of the Abudu clan. The two tribes have a history of intense rivalry since Ghana gained independence from Britain in 1957.

The latest violence flared on Monday when two people were shot and wounded after an argument over who should perform certain rituals associated with Yendi's traditional fire festival, known as the Bugum. It is regarded as one of Ghana's most picturesque festivals, involving a night-time display of drumming and dancing under the light of blazing torches.

Now troop reinforcements have been sent to the area and large numbers of people are fleeing towards the regional capital, Tamale.

The Dagombas make up about 8% of Ghana's population. Their king is the country's second-highest traditional ruler after the King of the Ashanti.


ProtestersA member of the US Air Force in Japan has been jailed for 32 months after being found guilty of raping a woman in Okinawa. The Naha District Court ruled that Staff Sergeant Timothy Woodland, 25, raped the 24-year-old Japanese woman in a car park at a shopping complex near the Kadena air base.

rape siteWoodland had admitted having sex with the woman, but said it had been consensual. The case aroused controversy because the US military took four days to hand Woodland over to the Japanese police, arguing that it needed guarantees he would be given fair treatment. There are 50,000 US troops based in Japan, half of those in Okinawa. Jail term The jail term was slightly shorter than the three years which prosecutors had sought. Lawyers said three years for rape was the norm in Japanese courts, adding that under Japanese criminal law, two years in prison is the minimum for rape, and that it is rare for the sentences to be over five years.


Afghanistan is observing a formal day of mourning for victims of the earthquake that struck the northern province of Baghlan earlier this week. At least 1,000 people are now known to have died in the quake, and tens of thousands left homeless. earth quake and tremorsThe tremors, which began on Monday evening, devastated the market town of Nahrin and nearby villages in the foothills of the Hindu Kush mountains. Aerial surveys estimate that 90% of the houses in the area have been damaged, many of them severely.






traffic jamTwo serious motorway crashes have brought misery to drivers at the start of the Easter weekend. Two people have died in a multiple pile-up involving more than 100 vehicles on the M40 in Oxfordshire. On the M5 in Somerset two people have died and another was critically injured after a lorry crashed into the central reservation. Police say "tens of thousands" of drivers have been stuck in traffic jams on both motorways. Thick fog is believed to have been a major factor in a series of "knock-on" crashes on the London-bound side of the M40 carriageway at Lewknor on Thursday morning.