Information on the incident at "The Lord Is My Shepherd Church" in Kumasi, in February 1982. [GHA4242]

Rampaging government troops reportedly killed more than seventy five people in a clash with a religious group in Kumasi on 7 February 1982. [
ENDNOTES:
"Rampaging Troops Kill Religious Sect Members" in the Foreign Broadcast Information Service, 23 February 1982, Paris AFP.] According to the West Africa the incident began when Major Joe Darko, an army officer of the People's Military Hospital in Kumasi, interrupted the congregation of "The Lord Is My Shepherd Church" during the Lord's Prayer, to participate in a pothole filling exercise. The congregation reportedly beat the officer to death and in turn the confrontation resulted in the loss of several lives. [ibid., and "Ghana: Reports of Unrest and Shootings", in West Africa, (London: West Africa Publications, 1 March 1982), p.617. Attached.] The destruction of seven churches by government soldiers was also reported by West Africa on 1 March 1982.

The attached FBIS Daily reports on the Middle East and Africa, dated 3, 8, 13, and 26 February 1982, address the issue of the relationship between the Provisional National Defence Council and the churches.