2024 polls: a collective responsibility to rescue Ghana

Margaret Brecknell, in her story "From Tanzania to the Antarctic", narrates some of the world's dramatic operations such as the one mounted to save the Chilean miners in 2010 which made huge headlines, with modern technology allowing people across the globe to watch events unfolding in real time.

According to Margaret, news did not travel so fast in the past, but people have always been interested in this type of human interest story. And there are some daring and intrepid individuals who have attempted rescue missions against all odds which still capture the imagination and attention of the world today.

One of such rescue missions chronicled by Wikipedia was the Entebbe Raid codenamed "Operation Thunderbolt" which took place on June 27, 1976, in an Israeli counter-terrorist mission in Uganda. I was then in form one in secondary school and took keen interest in what happened.

The rescue mission was launched in response to the hijacking of an international civilian passenger flight, an Airbus A300 operated by Air France with 248 passengers onboard.

During a stopover in Athens, the aircraft was hijacked by two Palestinian terrorists and two German terrorists who diverted the flight to Libya and then to Uganda, where they landed at Entebbe International Airport to be joined by other terrorists, and once in Uganda, the group enjoyed support from Ugandan dictator Idi Amin.

The terrorists took hostage of the passengers and demanded the release of 40 Palestinians and affiliated militants imprisoned in Israel as well as the release of 13 prisoners in four other countries.

Over 100 Ugandan soldiers were deployed to support the hijackers after the flight landed, and Amin, who had been informed of the hijacking from the beginning, had personally welcomed the terrorists at Entebbe.

After moving all of the hostages to a defunct airport, the hijackers separated all Israelis and several non-Israeli Jews from the larger group of passengers, subsequently moving them into a separate room.

Over the next two days, 148 non-Israeli hostages were released and flown out to Paris. The 94 remaining passengers, most of whom were Israelis, and the 12-member Air France crew continued to be held as hostages.

Representatives within the Israeli government initially debated over whether to concede or respond by force, as the hijackers had threatened to kill the 106 captives if the specified prisoners were not released.

Acting on intelligence provided by Mossad, the secret intelligence service of Israel, the decision was made to have the Israeli military undertake a rescue operation. The Israeli plans included preparation for an armed confrontation with Amin's Uganda Army.

Initiating the operation at nightfall on July 4, 1976, Israeli transport planes flew 100 commandos over 4,000 kilometres to Uganda for the rescue effort. Over the course of 90 minutes, 102 of the hostages were rescued successfully, with three killed.

One of the dead hostages, Dora Bloch, was reported to have been murdered by Ugandan authorities at a hospital in Kampala shortly after the Israeli rescue operation; she had fallen ill during the hijacking and was removed from the plane for treatment prior to the commandos' arrival.

Five Israeli military personnel were wounded and one killed; Yonatan Netanyahu who led the rescue effort was Israel's sole fatality of the Entebbe Raid – he was the older brother of Benjamin Netanyahu, who later became Israel's prime minister. The Israeli commandos killed all the hijackers and 45 Ugandan soldiers.

Over the course of the operation in Uganda, Israel received support from neighbouring Kenya. Idi Amin subsequently issued orders for the Ugandan military to kill all Kenyans living in Uganda, leading to the deaths of 245 Kenyans and the exodus of around 3,000 Kenyans from Uganda.

In the same way the Israelis rescued the hostages in Uganda, you and I have the collective responsibility to rescue Ghana from excruciating hardship and hopelessness on December 7.

Anthony Obeng Afrane