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Akwa Ibom State Police Command has confirmed the death of four persons in the renewed communal violence between the Amazaba community in Eastern Obolo and their Ikot Akpan Udo neighbours in the Ikot Abasi Local Government Area of the state.

This is because it has deployed a tactical force of about 300 officers to the warring communities to dominate and quell the disturbances.

The command’s Public Relations Officer, Odiko Macdon, who disclosed this while speaking with newsmen on Saturday said that Commissioner of Police, Olatoye Durusinmi, had also appealed to relevant state and non-state actors to intensify their interface to resolve the crisis.

The PUNCH reports that the Amazaba and Eastern Obolo crisis broke out in 2008, resulting in the wanton destruction of lives and properties and the displacement of thousands of residents from the warring communities.

Since then efforts by successive administrations to resolve the crisis have yielded little or no results.

Governor Udom Emmanuel’s effort to resolve the agelong crisis and resettle the displaced persons by constituting a White Paper Implementation Committee headed by the Commissioner of Health, Prof Augustine Umoh, had suffered several setbacks following occasional disruptions of the peace initiatives by the warring communities.