Over two hundred asylum seekers invade Zebilla township

Over two hundred asylum seekers have invaded Zebilla township in the Bawku West District of the Upper East Region on Friday evening.

According to them, they were heading back to Denugu, Kugri, and Songo communities in the Garu District.

The asylum seekers mostly women and children and a few men were seen walking barefooted, looking exhausted and frustrated from Atarikom community which is about 9 kilometers away from Zebilla, the district capital.

The asylum seekers, reaching the entrance of Zebilla Senior High/Technical School, lost their way and stopped to ask for directions to Garu.

The security agencies in Zebilla were quickly notified about the situation. The asylum seekers are currently under the control of the Ghana Immigration Service in Zebilla for interrogation and necessary actions.

Upon the interrogations by the security personnel, the asylum seekers were conveyed from Garu on Friday September 15 in three buses to Atarikom for Ghana Refugee Board to register them.

After the registration, they were asked to stay permanently without returning to Garu which didn't go down well with them. They decided to go back on foot to Garu where they first arrived about five months ago and were being taken care of by the community members.

The Asylum seekers said they were able to beg for farmlands from landowners and have since cultivated their crops and reared their animals. According to them, asking them to stay at Atarikom permanently would not help them.

Denugu, Kugri, and Songo communities in the Garu district are about 110km from Zebilla in the Bawku West District.

The asylum seekers have since been conveyed back to the Garu district.