Mr Yidana Zakaria, the North East Regional Minister, has called on stakeholders to identify key neutral opinion leaders to constantly sensitize people in conflict areas for development to thrive.

He said it was necessary to seek engagements from neutral bodies in curbing conflicts among communities within the northern belt of the country because some of such conflicts were fueled by chiefs and traditional leaders, who were expected to foster unity.

He made the call in Tamale during a  stakeholder meeting, organised by the National Development Authority (NDA).

The meeting was to co-create a Medium Term Development strategy for the northern zone of the country in alignment with the strategic priorities of development actors and to share insights in planning the 2022 edition of the Northern Ghana Development Summit and Investment Fair.

It was attended by the Northern, North East, Savannah, Upper West and Upper East Regional Ministers, and the NDA's development partners.

Mr Zakaria said the intermittent communal conflicts in the north had been a concern over the years and hindered development in the areas of education and health and called for continuous education on the effects of conflicts in vulnerable areas.

He called for intervention from opinion and religious leaders within the communities to educate people on the consequences of conflicts, saying "Until we are able to address the issues of conflict in the northern part of this country, we will continue to wallow in the situations of poverty and its effects."

He advised people of the north to embrace peace and acknowledge that peace was instrumental in the development, adding that a problem in a small community within the north could compromise the development of the whole area.

He said the international community would not be pleased to know that areas they wanted to support engaged in conflicts.

The Regional Minister further called on indigenes to safeguard the peace of the north and expressed displeasure over people running to the southern part of the country after creating problems in the north.