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Liberia: Several Refugees Deported From Ghana
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The Inquirer (Monrovia)
24 March 2008
Posted to the web 24 March 2008
G. Joshua Lemuel, Lll
Sixteen Liberian refugees who were recently faced with deportation orders by the Ghanaian government arrived yesterday at the Roberts International Airport (RIA) in Margibi County onboard an F-27 Ghanaian Air Force plane. The arrival of the deportees appeared as though something very serious and gruesome were going to happen as journalists were allegedly prevented by some staff of the Liberia Repatriation Resettlement and Reintegration Commission (LRRRC) to conduct an on-the-spot interview.
The 16 Liberians included three women and 13 men; they were taken to Division 44 in Firestone. However, one of our reporters was fortunate to chat with one of the deportees, Mr. Joel Barclay, who claimed that they were treated inhumanely at the Boduburam Camp, 5 kilometers from Accra in Ghana.
Mr. Joel said while talking for their benefits through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the Government of Ghana mounted a massive arrest of them.
He said the Ghanaian Government took 657 women and children to Kordeabe in the eastern region not far from Togo. He said those taken away were treated badly by keeping them from drinking water and eating any food. He said most of the refugees were bitten by snakes.
Mrs. Carloyan M. Roberts who also came alone, narrated that her seven children and three grand children were forcibly taken out by the Ghanaians to an undisclosed location.
"Please, let the Government of Liberia (GOL) pay attention to the plight of our children and people that are left in Ghana," one female deportee pleaded.
Mr. Solomon Opa David and Ms. Hannah Williams said they also left their family by coming to Liberia forcibly.
They said while coming on Saturday, their plane developed problems and they were taken to Accra where they were not even fed.
Recently, several Liberian refugees were rounded-up while protesting for their resettlement packages.
The refugees were demanding US$1,000 to come home or be settled in a third country preferably a western country.
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The Government of Liberia in response apologized to the Ghanaian Government on behalf of the refugees.
Currently the Liberian Government has dispatched two high powered delegations to Ghana to negotiate with its Ghanaian counterpart on the issue of the refugees.
The deportees are therefore appealing to the Government of Liberia to assist them as they were forcibly deported without anything to start their lives with.
Its a shame what this reporter wrote about the ongoing Liberian refugee issue in Ghana. I am a Ghanaian but the fact must be face.
As much as i disagree with the $100 resettlement, the action of some of the protesting refugees must be condemned. $100 to start life with after many years outside your country is too little and i understand my brothers and sisters from Liberia but their concerned could have been raised in a more proper and legal means.
Though some action by the police is uncall for but these refugees have their self to be blame... [Read Full Text]
I regart the unfortunate news about the Liberian refugees in Ghana. Why did the Ghanaian government acted in such a harmful way that they disgrace the Liberians? Why did the Liberian government apologise about the situation that took place few days ago?
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