1,000 Ghanaian refugees to return home

Security and political authorities in Ghana and Togo have agreed that appropriate conditions are on the ground for Ghanaian refugees who fled the northern conflict to Togo to return home.

This was at a closed-door meeting between a Togolese delegation, on one side, and President John Atta Mills and high-ranking government officials, of the other, at the- Castle, Osu, yesterday.

The Togolese government was emphatic that the Ghanaian authorities were already, aware that about 1,000 Ghanaians had been living in Togo as refugees as a result of the conflict in Bunkpurugu.

It denied the news making the rounds across the world that about 3,500 Ghanaians had fled the country into Togo because of the disturbances which broke out on April 25, this year, stressing that the figure had been grossly exaggerated.

A source at the meeting told the Daily Graphic that the Togolese delegation was led by the Justice Minister, Mr Totonu Kokou, and included the National Security Minister, Colonel Titi Kpima.

Togo's Ambassador in Ghana, Mr Jean Pierre Gbikpi-Benissan, expressed profound shock at the twist and the colour which had been added to the development which the two governments had collectively been addressing for some weeks.

At a media briefing after the closed-door interaction, a Deputy Minister of Information, Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, said the meeting should not be misconstrued as a knee jerk reaction by the government to the news about Ghanaian refugees in Togo which was making the rounds in the local and international media.

He said the meeting had long been scheduled before the news broke, stressing that it took some time for such a high-level meeting to be held.
According to him, the government had been in constant touch with the Togolese authorities with regard to Ghanaians who had fled to Togo as a result of the conflict.

He said the impression being created in some sections of the media that the government was unaware of the presence of the Ghanaians in Togo was erroneous and misleading.

Mr Ablakwa pointed out that the government owed it a sacred duty to protect the interest of every Ghanaian in dire circumstances, saying it would not shirk its responsibility to the 1,000 people who were currently seeking refuge in Togo.

Commenting on arrangements that had been put in place to encourage the refugees to return to Ghana within the shortest practicable time, the Deputy Information Minister said the government, through the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), had already dispatched trucks containing roofing sheets and other materials to the affected places to help the people re-roof their buildings which were destroyed during the conflict.

He said NADMO had also provided tents and other logistics for distribution to the affected people, stressing that the government was determined to ensure that peace and stability prevailed in the area.

He said the government had also beefed up security in the area to maintain law and order in the affected communities.