Refugees Missing In Togo

Martin Amidu-Interior Minister

THERE ARE still dark clouds hanging over the Ghanaian refugee situation in neighbouring Togo, as the Minister for the Interior, Martin Amidu, has failed to give any numbers in Parliament, asking Ghanaians to disregard all the figures already in the public domain.

According to Mr Amidu, a team of Ghanaian officials dispatched to Togo did not find any refugee even though government had accepted that 1000 refugees could be counted, with President Atta Mills giving a directive for their return home.

However, the Minister said there were 20 unoccupied tents in Togo, sparking an avalanche of questions about the reason for erecting tents when there was nobody to use it.

Minority Leader in Parliament, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, wondered why there could be tents and no refugees occupying them, asking if the tents were constructed in anticipation of the influx of Ghanaian refugees to Togo.  

Media reports had indicated that about 3,500 Ghanaians had fled the Bunkpurugu-Yunyoo District of the Northern Region to Togo, as a result of ethnic conflicts in the area.

After a Togolese delegation had met with President Atta Mills at the Osu Castle last week Wednesday, it was reported that the number was only 1,000 and not the figure previously quoted, and that the Ghanaian government was going to facilitate the return of the refugees.

The Interior Minister however told Parliament yesterday that until government had obtained “cogent evidence of the number of verifiably registered Ghanaian refugees on the Togo side of the border, any figures given as the number of Ghanaian refugees from this conflict on the Togo side ought to be treated as merely speculative.

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

The Minister said government was working hard to resolve any misconceptions that the allegations of Ghanaian refugees in Togo had given rise to.

International best practices, he indicated, required that refugees be duly registered to facilitate exchange of information for their eventual return and reintegration.

He said a report received from the Assessment Mission sent to the Bunkpurugu¬-Yunyoo District indicated that most of the displaced persons had remained in Ghana.

It was observed by the team that most of the internally-displaced Ghanaians continued to live on the Ghana side of the border, but crossed over to the Republic of Togo to receive food aid anytime food or emergency supplies were being distributed at that side, and thereafter, returned to Ghana.

Mr. Martin Amidu indicated that his Ministry was not in a position to deny that some Ghanaians had indeed crossed over to the Togo side of the border in the heat of the conflict, as such people did not report for a roll call before crossing over.

He was also not in a position to deny or confirm if there were some Ghanaians still living with relatives in Togo; and neither could he deny that Ghanaians did cross over to the Togo side anytime relief items were brought there to be distributed to perceived Ghanaian refugees.

The Minister said in view of the fact that media reports were not consistent with the reports from the Ministry's agencies on the ground, and those of the District and Regional Security Councils, an investigative team was dispatched by his Ministry to the conflict area to establish the veracity of the reports.

According to Mr. Amidu, the conflict did not cover the whole of the Bunkpurugu-Yunyoo District, stating it 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.

The clans, he mentioned, are the Dikporu, based at Kambatiak, the Nakuuks at Tabong, and the Naadaungs at Gbankoni.

He indicated that the recent conflict amongst these clans was thus an intra-ethnic conflict which resulted in the burning down of 368 houses, four deaths, and a number of internally-displaced inhabitants.

Mr. Amidu said the estimated total population of the area was about 2000, with a registered voter population of 900, adding it would therefore be unlikely that any realistic refugee figures from there could be higher than the total population of the community.

He announced that a team from the UNHCR and UNDP representatives in Ghana, and an officer from his Ministry, left Accra yesterday to join the Northern Regional Security Council (REGSEC) and the Deputy Coordinator of NADMO, who is already in Tamale to visit the conflict area again, to assess the situation for themselves.

The Minister disclosed that Government had, in the meantime, dispatched a number of relief items to help alleviate the plight of the displaced persons in the area.

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

There had also been a regional allocation of 200 packets of roofing sheets, 5000 mats and1000 pieces of mattresses, with an additional supply of relief items expected.

By Awudu Mahama & Sheilla Sackey