Two held for Ghana king's murder

The murder followed a row over the traditional fire festival

By Iliasu Adam BBC, Tamale, northern Ghana

The authorities in Ghana have arrested two people in connection with the beheading of a prominent northern king earlier this year.

The king or "Lion" of Dagbon, Ya-Na Yakubu Andani was killed in gruesome fashion with about 40 others in the town of Yendi in March, in a chieftaincy dispute between two royal clans.

The king met a brutal end

He had been on the throne for 28 years.

The incident led to the resignation of some prominent people in government and still threatens the peace and security of the northern region of Ghana.

The police re-arrested Yidana Sugri and Iddrisu Jahanfo, for their alleged role in the murder of the Dagbon king.

A security source told the BBC that the two men were arrested on 8 November in Yendi by police officers from the capital, Accra. They were flown to Accra that same day.

On the quiet

Yidana Sugri was first arrested in April by the security agencies but the office of the attorney general ordered that he should be released.

The Wuako commission - which was set up by the government to investigate the crisis - also ordered the arrest and prosecution of Iddrisu Jahanfo for his alleged complicity in the murder of the king, but again the attorney general ordered the court to stop his prosecution.

He was subsequently released because the commission was thought to have acted prematurely and improperly in asking for the prosecution.

The re-arrest of the two suspects, which was obviously done rather quietly, sends signals that the government has started to act on the report of the commission.

Some observers have expressed concern that accomplices of the suspects might go into hiding.

An uneasy calm has been prevailing in the Dagbon area since the Wuako commission presented its report to President John Kufuor.

Both factions, the Andanis and their rival Abudus, have been waiting for the next move by the government.

Trouble between the two clans started as a relatively minor dispute over the celebration of the annual Bugum or fire festival.

Magical powers

The fire festival marks the beginning of the year.

It starts in the morning of the ninth day of the first month of the Islamic calendar with the recitations from the Koran, after which a cow is killed and sacrificed to the gods.

It was the celebration of this festival, which dates back to the 15th century, that led to the shocking killing of the king, the first regicide in the 600 years history of the Dagbon state.

The murder also has political undertones.

The Abudu faction, who are aligned to the New Patriotic Party government, have constantly demanded that they should be rewarded for their role in the party's December 2000 electoral victory by removing the king - who was from the rival Andani clan - and replacing him with one of their own.

But since the occupancy to the Dagbon kingship was decided by the Supreme Court, the government is powerless.