Most large-scale ethnic conflicts move beyond state-centric issues to involve a variety of actors, issues, and motives. In Northern Ghana, the protracted conflicts of the 1980s and 1990s were altercations between ethno-politicized communities seeking to either maintain “traditional” authority over neighbouring groups or obtain autonomy and recognition within the “traditional” system of rule. This article relies on theories of ethnic conflict that underscore the importance of inequality between groups and thereby considers both remote and immediate factors underlying the 1994-1995 conflict in Northern Ghana as well as the role played by key actors in framing ethno-political identities leading up to the conflict.