..::Ministry of the Interior::Republic of Ghana::..

STATEMENT BY HON. MINISTER OF THE INTERIOR

STATEMENT BY HON. MINISTER OF THE INTERIOR, MARTIN A. B. K. AMIDU, TO PARLIAMENT ON THE ALLEGED EXODUS OF 3500 GHANAIANS TO THE REPUBLIC OF TOGO AS REFUGEES - 1ST JUNE 2010.

Madam Speaker, in an incident report from the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) dated 6th May 2010 addressed to the Ministry covering the period 15th April – 5th May 2010 it was reported that following the conflict that broke out in the Bunkpurugu Yunyoo District on March 18 and April 21, 2010 calm had returned to the District. The report indicated that rumours about residents of the Bunkpurugu-Yunyoo District fleeing to neighboring Republic of Togo (Togo) due to fear of another looming conflict in the area could not be confirmed given entry/exit figures at the border.

Madam Speaker, The National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) which had been providing for victims of the conflict in the District did not also report in its mid-May 2010 report of any exodus of Ghanaians from the conflict area to Togo as refugees. NADMO had duly registered the number of people displaced by the conflict, all houses burnt down or whose roof had been completely botched, the number of clinics closed down, and the fact that the schools in the conflict area had been closed down. NADMO reported that on 11th May 2010 there was uneasy calm at Najong No. 2 when rumours spread that the village was the target of some unknown assailants. Some of the inhabitants were seen moving with their valuables to Bunkpurugu, Jilik, Chintilung, and to Togo. The rumour was quickly discarded and life returned to normal in Najong and Gbankoni.
Madam Speaker, there was no report from both the District Security Committee and the Regional Security Council of any Ghanaian refugees from the conflict area to Togo.
Madam Speaker, this was the situation in the Bunkpurugu-Yunyoo District until it was alleged by the BBC that 3500 Ghanaians had fled the Bunkpurugu-Yunyoo District to Togo as refugees. The report which made rounds in the local media was worsened by the front page story of the 26th May, 2010 issue of the Daily Graphic stating that three thousand five hundred (3,500) Ghanaians had fled the Bunkpurugu-Yunyoo District of the Northern Region to Togo as a result of a conflict.

Madam Speaker, in view of the fact that the 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 even after the publication of the media reports, an investigative team was dispatched by the Ministry of the Interior to the area to establish the veracity of the reports.
Madam Speaker, the conflict which is the subject matter of the media reports and this Statement does not cover the whole of the Bunkpurugu-Yunyoo District. It is 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 who live about 65km away from the Bunkpurugu-Yunyoo District capital are the Dikporu based at Kambatiak, the Nakuuks at Tabong and the Naadaungs at Gbankoni who all share boundary with the Republic of Togo.

The recent conflict amongst three Bimoba clans of Dikporu, Nakuuks and Naadaungs is thus an intra – ethnic conflict which resulted in the burning down of three hundred and sixty – eight (368) houses, four (4) deaths and a number of internally displaced inhabitants.
A report received from the Assessment Mission sent to the Bunkpurugu-Yunyoo District indicated that most of the displaced persons remained in Ghana. A visit by the Assessment Mission to the Republic of Togo where it is claimed the Ghanaian refugees are hosted reported sighting about twenty (20) tents unoccupied by any persons at the time of the visit.
It was observed by the team that most of the internally displaced Ghanaians continue to live on the Ghana side of the border but cross over to the Republic of Togo to receive food aid anytime food or emergency supplies are being distributed at that side and thereafter return to Ghana.
Madam Speaker, it is estimated that the total population of the area (the Dikporu, Nakuuks and Naadaungs clans) is about 2000 with a registered voter population of 900. It would, therefore, be highly unlikely that any realistic refugee figures from there could be higher than the total population of the community.

Madam Speaker, international best practice requires that refugees be duly registered to facilitate exchange of information for their eventual return and reintegration. We have been unable to obtain any list of registered refugees from our Togolese brothers upon an earlier visit by the GIS team or the visit of the assessment team to the Togo side at the week end.
Madam Speaker, until we obtain cogent evidence of the number of verifiable 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.
Madam Speaker, we are not in a position to deny that some Ghanaians in fact crossed over to the Togo side of the border in the heat of the conflict as such people will not first report for a roll call before crossing over. That there may be some Ghanaians still living with relatives in Togo, we are also not in a position to deny or confirm. We can also not deny that some Ghanaians do indeed cross over to the Togo side anytime relief items are brought there to be distributed to perceived Ghanaian refugees. It is in the same vein that it is alleged that people from the Togolese side cross over anytime NADMO is distributing relief items on the Ghana side. Because the people at the border are the same people, divided only by an imaginary colonial border, it is difficult to tell a Ghanaian Bimoba from a Togolese Bimoba. Therein lie the paradox of setting numbers to this problem.

Madam Speaker, we are working hard to resolve any misperceptions that the allegations of Ghanaian refugees in Togo has given rise to. To this end, a team from the UNHCR (Ghana), the UNDP (Ghana), and an officer from my Ministry left Accra yesterday to join the Northern REGSEC and the Deputy Co-ordinator of NADMO who is already in Tamale to visit the conflict area again with these development partners to assess the situation for themselves.
Madam Speaker, be that as it may, Government has engaged and is engaging with the Republic of Togo to have an amicable resolution of any refugee problem created by the conflict in that area of the Bunkpurugu-Yunyoo District of the Northern region.
Madam Speaker, Government has dispatched the following relief items to the area to help alleviate the plight of the displaced persons in the area:
    300 bags of maize
    300 bags of rice
    300 bags of beans
    100 cartons of soap
    100 cartons of cooking oil
There has also been a regional allocation of:
200 packets of roofing sheets
5000 mats
1000 pieces of mattresses
It is expected that the Bunkpurugu-Yunyoo District will receive an additional allocation from the regional allocation of the roofing sheets and other materials for distribution in the district.

CONCLUSION
Madam Speaker, life is returning to normal in the area as the people in the conflict community are busy farming as well as engaging in other economic ventures.

Welcome to the Ministry of the Interior

The Ministry of the Interior is mandated to ensure internal security, as well as the maintenance of law and order in the country.

In collaboration with its Agencies, this task has been undertaken by providing an appreciable level of security over the past years. The successes achieved in the socio-economic sphere of the nation and the realization of Government’s plans and programmes under the Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS) as well as the various Presidential Special Initiatives (PSIs) was largely achieved because the country had experienced a relatively safe and secure environment.