Rau's Routine Allegations Against Ghana Embassy

THE ATTENTION of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been directed to the routine allegations leveled against the Head of Mission and the Head of Chancery of the Ghana Embassy in Berlin, Germany by a Mr. Anthony Rau, a human rights activist in Germany.

It would be recalled that on November 3, 2003, Mr. Anthony Rau held a press conference in Accra and made wild allegations, which appeared on the Ghana Web and in The Chronicle on August 4, 2003. Mr. Rau accused the embassy of corruption and death threats, which have been flatly rejected as being "absolutely false."

Apparently determined to run down the embassy, Head of Mission and Head of Chancery for no obvious reason, Mr. Anthony Rau once again held a press conference in Accra on June 5, 2004 and accused the Head of Mission and the Head of Chancery of a serious dereliction of duty, which was published in The Chronicle of June 7, 2004.

Mr. Rau alleged that in 2002, the German authorities had invited the head of Mission and the head of Chancery to collect a recorded conversation between Mr. Rawlings and Captain Tsikata, regarding the planning, abduction and killing of the three High Court Judges and a retired army officer.

Mr. Rau alleged further that the Head of Mission and the Head of Chancery declined to go for the tape on the grounds that "the Ghana Government was not interested, and Germany should not interfere in Ghana's internal affairs."

The Ghana embassy categorically denies Mr. Rau's claim, describing it as absolutely false and baseless.

The German authorities have never invited the head of Mission and the Head of Chancery in connection with any recorded conversation about the murder of the three high court judges and a retired army officer.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs deems it unacceptable that Mr. Anthony Rau, who claims to be a human rights activist, should persistently indulge in making libelous allegations calculated to besmirch the reputation of the head of Mission and the head of Chancery as well as the honour of the Ghana Embassy, the legitimate representative of the Government of the Republic of Ghana.

If Mr. Rau has any personal score to settle with the staff of the Ghana embassy in Germany, he may wish to have recourse to decent action compatible with the tenets of human rights instead of engaging in baseless allegations, which eventually damage the international image of the Government and people of Ghana.