Liberia-Police-Deployment: Liberian Police deployed to protect Ghanaians in Liberia
Posted by African Press International on February 19, 2011
<By Terence Sesay, API-Reporter in Liberia
Monrovia (Liberia)-Officers of the Liberia National Police elite Emergency Response Unit were Monday deployed in areas with large concentrations of Ghanaian nationals residing in the country to avoid reprisal attacks against them.
According to eyewitnesses, the armed officers were deployed as early as 7.00 a.m and patrolled the West Point, Pupo Beach in New Kru Town as well as other areas in Logan Town communities in Monrovia where there are large populations of Ghanaians. “We are here to protect lives, and to avoid clashes between Liberians and Ghanaians, we are only being deployed to maintain peace and stability; we don’t want people to use the unfolding situation in the refugee camp in Ghana to cause confusion and looting,” one of the officers who preferred to remain anonymous said.
The deployment comes amidst reports that at least one Liberian was shot dead Sunday and several others brutalized by Ghanaian police at the Buduburam Refugee Camp on the outskirts of the capital Accra where an estimated 13,000 Liberian refugees are still sheltering. The standoff between the Liberian refugees and Ghanaian police on Buduburam Camp is reported to have been triggered by a leadership crisis among the Liberian refugees.
The deaths of Liberian refugees residing in Ghana has generated empathy among Liberians at home, with some making xenophobic remarks against Ghanaians residing in Liberia.
Meanwhile, commenting on the issue, Liberia’s Minister of Information, Cletus Sieh has said that the Liberian government is closely monitoring the situation at the refugee camp and that it would shortly give an official position as it is pressing for a diplomatic solution into the situation that led to the reported death, arrests and displacement of Liberian refugees in Ghana.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
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