Deportees return from Libya

Kulungugu (U/E) May 19, GNA- Twenty-Eight Ghanaians, including three women, deported from Libya arrived on Saturday at the Kulungugu border post near Bawku by a chartered bus from Niger. The returnees, who are between 20 and 35 years, looked very frail and dehydrated.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA), their spokesman, Kwabena Boateng, said most of them went to Libya on foot through the desert to seek greener pastures.

He said majority of them, who are unskilled JSS and SSS graduates, were engaged in menial jobs. Mr. Boateng, 35, said even their meagre eatnins were taken from them.

The spokesman said because most of them were illegal migrants, they were compelled to withstand the threats and harassment to survive.

Mr. Boateng explained that having gotten fed up with the Libyans, they pitched their camp in Niger in order to raise some money to enable them come home.

At Niger too, he said, "events took a different direction, compelling us to pack bag and baggage to come back home". He thus advised the youth not to entertain the idea of going abroad to look for greener pastures, rather they should stay and help in building a vibrant economy.

Besides, Mr. Boateng appealed to the government for financial help to enable them to reintegrate into the society. One of the women, Adwoa Safianu Musah, who was asked why a woman should undertake such a risky journey, said she went to Libya with her husband about three years ago, but he died on the way.