Ghana arrests 81 in separatist crackdown

A total of 81 people were arrested in Ghana on Wednesday for allegedly supporting the declaration of the country's eastern region as an independent country.

This was in addition to the eight people already in detention on Sunday, including the 85-year-old Charles Kormi, leader of the Homeland Study Group Foundation, a secessionist group in the Volta Region. They were accused of leading a campaign for a separate nation to be known as "Western Tongoland".

"We arrested 81 members of HSGF for their involvement in an intended demonstration against the arrest of their leaders," Prince Dogbatse, the police spokesman of the Volta region, told the Agence France-Presse.