GHANAIANS TO BE EVACUATED FROM SIERRA LEONE IF ...

The government said yesterday that it is closely monitoring the political situation in Sierra Leone, following the ouster of President Tejan Kabbah last Sunday and will evacuate Ghanaians there if they face any danger.

In furtherance of this, a task force has been set up to keep watching developments in the West African state where 34 Ghanaian ECOMOG troops are stationed at Luingi Airport. There are also some Ghanaians living in other parts of the country.

This decision was taken at a meeting President Jerry John Rawlings held with some ministers, the Chief of Defence Staff and service commanders.

The ministers were: Alhaji Mahama Iddrisu, Minister of Defence; Mr. Kwamena Ahwoi, Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs; Mr. Kofi Totobi Quakyi, Minister of State and Dr. Mohammed Ibn Chambas, Deputy Minister of Education.

Major-General Ben Akafia, Chief of Defence Staff; Brigadier Joseph Smith, Army Commander; Commodore E.O. Owusu-Ansah, Navy Commander; Brigadier Seth Obeng, Chief of Staff at the general headquarters and Group Captain Akondo, Chief Staff Officer at Air Force Headquarters, also attended the meeting. Mr. Ahwoi, Mr. Quakyi and Dr. Chambas took turns to brief reporters and said Ghanaians in the crisis-hit country are not in danger at the moment, but "the situation is deteriorating very fast". Mr. Quakyi said the safety of Ghanaians in Sierra Leone is paramount to the government and that "this is in addition to other considerations as far as the political stability of the sub-region is concerned".

Mr. Ahwoi said the Ghana High Commission building in Freetown was hit but the damage was minimal with no injuries to the staff. From reports, he said, the attack was carried out by vandals who wanted to steal vehicles as they had done to other missions and international organisations.

The acting Foreign Minister told a questioner that it would be premature to think of military intervention to restore deposed President Kabbah "because the situation is still fluid". But if the situation demand an intervention, that decision would be taken by the sub-region as part of an ECOMOG effort to maintain sub-regional integrity and that no single individual country could take such a decision.

Mr. Ahwoi, who is also Minister of Local Government, said from reports, it is clear that Sierra Leone is sliding into anarchy and moving towards the state in which Liberia was before ECOMOG intervention.

Mr. Ahwoi made it clear that in planning the possible evacuation

of Ghanaians from Sierra Leone, it is acting in collaboration with some other countries in the sub-region, especially Nigeria and Guinea. GNA