We Need Evidence To Verify Number Of Refugees - Amidu

Interior Minister, Mr Martin Amidu has told Parliament that until cogent evidence of the number of verifiable Ghanaian refugees on the Togo side of the border was obtained, any figure given as the number of Ghanaian refugees in Togo ought to be treated as mere speculation.

He stated that international best practice required that refugees be duly registered to facilitate the exchange of information for their eventual return and integration.

“We have been unable to obtain any list of registered refugees from the Togolese upon an earlier visit by the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) team or the visit of the assessment team to the Togo side at the weekend,” he told the House.

Mr Amidu was briefing parliament on the recent media report of the 3,500 Ghanaian refugees in Togo as a result of conflicts in certain communities in the Bunkprugu-Yunyoo District.

He explained that the conflict was limited to three Bimoba clans who started fighting over a parcel of land at a village called Tobong as far back as January 2008.

He said the clans living 65 kilometres away from the Bunkprugu-Yunyoo District capital were the Dikporu, based at Kambatiak, the Nakuuks at Tabong and the Naadaungs at Gbankoni, all of whom share boundary with Togo.

He said the recent conflict among the three Bimoba clans was an intra-ethnic conflict which resulted in four deaths and the burning down of 360 houses, with a number of persons internally displaced.

The Interior Minister added that a report from the Assessment Mission sent to the Bunkprugu-Yunyoo District indicated that most of the displaced persons remained in Ghana, while the team saw about 20 unoccupied tents when it visited the Togo side of the border.

He said it was observed that most of the internally displaced Ghanaians continued to live on the Ghana side of the border but often crossed over to Togo to receive food aid anytime food emergency supplies were being distributed at that side and thereafter return to Ghana.

Mr Amidu said it was estimated that the total population of the conflict area was 2,000, with a registered voter population of 900, adding that it would, therefore, be highly unlikely that any realistic refugee figures from there could be higher than the total population of the community.

He said the Ghanaian authorities were not in a position to deny that some Ghanaians did, in fact, cross over to the Togo side of the border in the heat of the conflict, as such people would not first report for a roll call before crossing over.

He said the ministry was working hard to resolve any misconceptions that the allegations of Ghanaian refugees in Togo had given rise to, adding that a team from the UNHCR (Ghana), the UNDP (Ghana) and an officer from the ministry left Accra yesterday to join the Northern Regional Security Council and a deputy co-ordinator of NADMO to visit the conflict area again.

He said the government had dispatched a number of relief items to the conflict area to help alleviate the plight of the displaced persons in the area.

The items included 300 bags of rice, 300 bags of maize, 300 bags of beans, 100 cartons of soap and 100 cartons of cooking oil.

In addition to these, the regional allocation of 200 packets of roofing sheets, 5,000 mats and 1,000 pieces of mattresses had been sent to the area for distribution to the displaced persons.

He told the House that life was returning to normal in the area, as people in the conflict community were busily farming and engaging in other economic ventures.

Commenting on the statement, the MP for Bunkprugu-Yunyoo, Mr Emmanuel Duut, said the clan that was engaged in conflict had its half brothers residing in Togo and it was, therefore, normal for them to cross over to Togo as a daily routine.

For his part, the Minority Leader, Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, said it was not for nothing that the Togolese officials erected tents at their side of the border and disapproved the assertion of the MP from the area.

“Are you, by this explanation, telling Ghanaians that the tents were erected for the glorification and beautification of the Togolese side of the border?” he asked, and called on the minister to explain to Ghanaians what was happening to the families of the four people who died as a result of the conflict.